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THE AMERICAN BREEDERS
MAGAZINE
A JOURNAL OF GENETICS AND EUGENICS
t PUBLISHED BY THE
AMERICAN BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
INDEX TO VOL. Ill
WASHINGTON, D. C.
1912
>-
v.
THE WAYERLY PRESS
BALTIMORE. U. 8. A.
■*■
^^
_ J
INDEX TO VOLUME III AMERICAN BREEDERS
MAGAZINE
Acclimatizing; Possibilities of, South American Birds and Mammals 144
A Million Years Hence 140
Anderson, W. S., Evolution of a Type of Horse 209
Animals, The Introduction of 140
Animal Breeding, Some Biological Principles in 270
Arabian Horse, A History of the, and Its Influence on Modern Breeds. . . 174
Association, The American Breeders, and the Practical Breeder 224
A Study in Eugenic Genealogy 241
Barleys, The Breeding of Winter 108
Biography, A. E. Blount 81
Nehemiah P. Clarke 161
Martin Hope Sutton 1
Biological Principles, Some, in Animal Breeding 270
Blount, A. E., Biography 81
Breed, The Karakul, of Sheep 158
Breeder, The American Breeders Association and the Practical 224
Breeding, Circuit 57
End Results in 137
Farm, A Fruit, in Minnesota 316
For Eggs, Testing System of 316
Genetics, Eugenics 308
Horses and Horse 282
Plant, as a Business for Farmers 64 J
Some Biological Principles in Animal 270
Ten Years of Corn 295 '
The Effect of Research in Genetics on the Art of 29, 125
Value of Seedling Characters in Plant 231
Breeds, A History of the Arabian Horse, and its Influence on Modern 174
Broad-Tail Sheep, Concerning the Fat-Tail and the 181
Bush-Brown, H. K., Horses and Horse Breeding 282
Canadian Seed Growers Association, The, and Its Work 237
Castle, W. E., Some Biological Principles in Animal Breeding 270
Cattle, Korean 312
Relation Between Yields of Milk and Yields of Fat in Dairy 148
The Illawara Breed of Dairy 164
Census, Ethnic, in Minnesota 318
Characters, Value of Seedling, in Plant Breeding 231
Circuit Breeding. 57
Clarke, Nehemiah P., Biography 161
CHub, The Eugenics, at the University of Wisconsin 69
Clubs, Eugenics, in Educational Institutions ! 63
Committee, Report of, on Heredity of Feeblemindedness 134
Conference, First Annual, of the Eugenics Field Workers 265
Congress, The International, of Eugenics 75
> • •
in
V
iv American Breeders Magazine
Corn Breeding, Methods of 99 /
Ten Years of 295*
Cornell, The, Experiments in Breeding Timothy 85
Cross, Fertility of Hybrids in a Mammalian Species 261
Crosses, Transmission of Color and Color Markings in Hereford-Shorthorns 201
Demography, Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and 232
Derr, H. B., The Breeding of Winter Barleys 108
Detlefsen, John, Fertility of Hybrids 261
Domestication of the Fox 37
Ethnic Census in Minnesota 318
Eugenic Genealogy, A Study in 241
Eugenical Aspect of Venereal Disease, The 256
. Eugenics, A Pertinent, Question 228
Breeding, Genetics 308
Club at the University of Wisconsin, The 69
Clubs in Educational Institutions 63
Congress, International 75
Constructive 5, 113
Field Workers, First Annual Conference of 265
Our Immigration Laws from the Viewpoint of 20
Record Office, An Account of the Work of the 119
Section, Report of the Meeting of the 74
The Pedagogics of 222
Evolution of the Standard Bred 45
The, of a Type of Horse 209
Experiments, The Cornell, in Breeding Timothy 85
Farmers, Plant Breeding as Business for 64*
Fat-Tail, Concerning the, and the Broad-Tail Sheep 181
Feeblemindedness, Report of Committee on Heredity of .• 134
Fertility of Hybrids in a Mammalian Species Cross 261
The Size of the Seed Plant and the, of the Plant Produced 293
Field Workers, First Annual Conference of Eugenics 265
Foals, Another Instance of Bay, from Chestnut Parents 228
Fogle, E. P., Hereford-Shorthorn Crosses 201
Fox, Domestication of the 37
Funk, Eugene, Ten Years of Corn Breeding 295>
Gartley, A., A Study in Eugenic Genealogy 241
Genealogy, A Study in Eugenic 241
Genetics, A Field for the Scientific Philanthropist 303
Breeding, Eugenics 308
at the University of Illinois 310
Pedagogics of 302
The Effect of Research in, on the Art of Breeding 29, 125
Gideon, The, Memorial Tablet 310
Index to Volume III v
Hall, Prescott F., Report of Committee on Immigration 249
Harris, J. Arthur, Size of Seed Planted and Fertility of Plant Produced . 293
Hayes, H. K., Methods of Corn Breeding 99
Hays, W. M., Constructive Eugenics 5, 113
Nehemiah P. Clarke. (Biography) 161
Heredity of Feeblemindedness, Report of Committee on 134
Studies in Human 318
History, A, of the Arabian Horse and Its Influence on Modern Breeds. . . 174
Horse, The Evolution of a Type of 209
Horses and Horse Breeding 282
Best Color for, in the Tropics 156
Human, Alternative Inheritance 26
Heredity, Studies in 318
Hybrids, The Fertility of, in a Mammalian Species Cross 261
Hygiene, Fifteenth International Congress on, and Demography 232
Illawara Breed of Dairy Cattle, The 164
Immigration, First Report of Committee on 249
Our, Laws from the Viewpoint of Eugenics 20
Inheritance, Alternative Human 26
The, of Skin Color 317
Insanity, The Geographical Distribution of, in Massachusetts 11
Instance, Another, of Bay Foals from Chestnut Parents 228
International, The, Eugenics Congress 75
Introduction, The, of Animals 140
Irwin, W. M., The Turkey as an Egg Producer 204
Jones, J. Walter, The Domestication of the Fox 37
Jordan, H. E., The Eugenical Aspect of Venereal Disease 256
Karakul Sheep, The Breed of 138
Knorr, F., A History of the Arabian Horse 174
Korean Cattle 312
Laughlin, H. H., Conference of Eugenics Field Workers 265
Eugenics Record Office 119
Law, An Early Work with Mendel's 145
Laws, Our Immigration, from the Viewpoint of Eugenics 20
Love, H. H., Hybrids and Selections in Oats 289
Malde, A. E., A Method of Recording Types 52
Markings, Transmission of Color and Color, in Hereford-Shorthorn
Crosses 201
Marshall, F. R., Evolution of the Standard Bred 45
Massachusetts, The Geographical Distribution of Insanity in 11
McCaffrey, Frank, Illawara Dairy Cattle 164
Meeting, Report of, of Eugenics Sections 74
Mendelian Segregation, Illustration of 71
Mendel's Law, An Early Work with 145
vi American Breeders Magazine
Method, A, of Corn Breeding 99
of Recording Types and Variations by Direct Printing 52
Minnesota, Ethnic Census in 318
Nursery Stock, Pedigreed 156
Oats, Comparison of Yields Between Hybrids and Selections in 289
Olin, W. H., A. E. Blount (Biography) 81
Organization of a Eugenics Club at Cornell University 229
Parents, Another Instance of Bay Foals from Chestnut 228
Pedagogics of Genetics 302
The, of Eugenics 222
Pedigreed Nursery Stock 156
Pure Lines, Selection in 311
Rayner, Ben I., Domestication of the Fox 37
Report of Committee on Heredity of Feeblemindedness 134
of Meeting of the Eugenics Section 74
Progress, from the University of Wisconsin 230
Research, The Effect of, in Genetics on the Art of Breeding 29, 125
Results, End, in Breeding 137
Rogers, A. C, Heredity of Feeblemindedness 134
Science, A New, and Its Findings 157
Seed Growers Association, The Canadian, and Its Work 237 *
The Size of the, Planted and the Fertility of the Plant Produced 293 -
Segregation, Illustration of Mendelian 71
Selections in Oats, Comparisons between Hybrids and 289
in Pure Lines 311
Sheep, Concerning the Fat-Tail and the Broad-Tail 181
The Karakul Breed of 158
Skin Color, The Inheritance of 317
Southard, E. E., Distribution of Insanity 11
Sutton, Martin Hope (Biography) 3
The Size of the Seed Plant and the Fertility of the Plant Produced 293
Timothy, The Cornell Experiment in Breeding 85
Transmission of Color and Color Markings in Hereford-Shorthorn Crosses 201
Tropics, Best Color for Horses in the 156
Turkey, The, as an Egg Producer 204
Types, A Method of Recording, and Variations by Direct Printing 52
Type, The Evolution of a, of Horse 209
University, Organization of a Eugenics Club at Cornell 229
Progress Report from the Wisconsin 230
Variations, A Method of Recording Types and, by Direct Printing 52
Venereal Disease, The Eugenical Aspect of 256
Index to Volume III vii
Ward, R. DeC, Our Immigration Laws 20
Webber, Herbert J., Breeding Timothy 85
Plant Breeding as a Business for Farmers 64
The Effect of Research in Genetics on the Art of Breeding 29. 124
Wisconsin, Progress Report from the University of 230
The Eugenics Club at the University of 69
Woods, Alternative Human Inheritance 26
Yields, Relation Between, of Milk and Yields of Fat in Dairy Cattle 148
Young, C. C, The Fat-Tail and the Broad-Tail Sheep 181
THE AMERICAN BREEDERS
ASSOCIATION
An organization whose efforts are devoted to:
The study of heredity In man, animals and plants; the
furthering of the art and science of practical breeding to
increase the quantity and quality of the world's animal
and plant resources; the breeding of farm crops and farm
animals to a thorough adaptation to their respective uses
in all industries dependent upon the farm for their raw
materials; the promotion of eugenic knowledge and senti-
ment for bettering the human race.
Membership: Annual $2.00; Life $20.00
Institutions $25.00
Washington, D. C.
THE AMERICAN BREEDERS
MAGAZINE
Published Quarterly by the American Breeders Association
FOR THE USE OF ITS MEMBERS
PRICE OF SINGLE COPIES, 35 CENTS
Address communications to American Breeders Association, Washington, D. C.
Vol. Ill, No. 1 First Quarter, 1912 Whole No, 9
CONTENTS PA „
Martin Hope Sutton Biography (with portrait). F. W. Giles, Reading,
England 3
Constructive Eugenics. W. M. Hays, Washington, D. C 5
The Geographical Distribution of Insanity in Massachusetts. E. E.
Southard, Boston, Mass 11
Our Immigration Laws from the Viewpoint of Eugenics. Robert De C.
Ward, Cambridge, Mass 20
Alternative Human Inheritance. F. Adams Woods, Boston, Mass 26
The Effect of Research in Genetics on the Art of Breeding. Herbert J.
Webber, Ithaca, N. Y 29
Domestication of the Fox. Ben. I. Rayner, J. Walter Jones 37
Evolution of the Standard Bred. F. R. Marshall, Columbus, 45
A Method of Recording Types and Variations by Direct Printing. O. G.
Malde, Madison, Wis 52
EDITORIALS:
Circuit Breeding 57
Eugenics Clubs in Educational Institutions 63
Plant Breeding as a Business for Farmers 64
NEWS AND NOTES:
The Eugenics Club at the University of Wisconsin. O. E. Baker 69
Illustration of Mendelian Segregation. W. R. Ballard 71
Report of Meeting of Eugenics Section. C.B.Davenport 74
The International Eugenics Congress 75
Publications Received 76
ASSOCIATION MATTERS:
Membership Fees are due 80
Place of the next Meeting, 1913 80
Worth of the Work of the American Breeders Association 80
(Copyright, 1912, by the American Breeders Association.)
1
Martin Hope Sutton, His Son and Grandson
THE AMEEICAN
BEEEDEES MAGAZINE
"The character of a nation Is determined by the character of the people living In it. The char-
acter of the people Js determined by their heredity— the kind of blood that runs in their veins."
— David St abb Joed an.
Vol. Ill First Quarter, 1912 No. 1
MARTIN HOPE SUTTON, 1815-1901
Walter F. Giles
Reading, England
Martin Hope Sutton was born at Reading, England, the son of
a corn factor and miller. From very early days he found his recrea-
tion in studying works on botany, and before the development of
the railroads spent much of his leisure time in walking tours to visit
famous gardens and nursery grounds within reach of his home.
Later on he was able to extend these visits to greater distances,
finally visiting some of the most interesting gardens on the continent
of Europe.
His parents hoped he would adopt a profession, but his inclina-
tions were strongly in favor of a business career, and being keenly
interested in the improvement of plants, the knowledge he had gained
in his travels inspired the idea of starting an experimental ground
at Reading. Consequently at the age of twenty-two he commenced
practical work in plant improvement, joining his father's old estab-
lished business, and added to it the branch which was afterwards
destined to play so important a part in the development of agricul-
ture and horticulture.
The disastrous Irish potato famine in 1847 was one of the first
means of focussing attention on the improvements which he had.
effected in selecting and adapting vegetables and plants for food.
Public men of the day realized the value of his labors and the sub-
stitutes he suggested for the devastated potato crop, which by their
quick growth would mitigiate the severity of the famine, were at
once accepted by the government.
The study of grasses under their natural conditions possessed a
strong fascination for Mr. Sutton, and when, owing to agricultural
depression, many thousands of acres were laid down to grass in
England, he was able to apply his knowledge in recommending pre-
scriptions which would be suitable for all kinds of soils. Previously
3
4 American Breeders Magazine
the only grass seeds generally procurable were the sweepings of hay
lofts, usually consisting of worthless grasses, weeds, and the immature
seeds of good varieties. In 1861 he contributed to the Journal of
the Royal Agricultural Society of England an article on "Permanent
Pastures." This was reprinted by desire, and since its enlargement
by his eldest son, Mr. Martin J. Sutton, has passed through several
editions, and is now one of the standard works on grasses.
Martin Hope Sutton had five sons, three of whom joined their
father in his work of plant improvement. Upon the foundation
already laid they were able to greatly extend the work, with the
result that they have brought into commerce many new and im-
proved types of roots, vegetables, and flowers, and their achieve-
ments are known practically throughout the world.
The Golden Tankard mangel, so highly esteemed by almost all
dairy farmers, was introduced in 1872, and because of its high feed-
ing value it was awarded a gold medal by the Highland Agricultural
Society in 1873. In 1876 the Magnum Bonum potato was brought
out, so well known as the pioneer of all the disease-resisting varieties
of the present day. For combining the very important factor of
earliness with the large podded types, the name of the Marrowfat
peas stands in the front rank.
Many new types of flowers had their origin in experiments carried
out by the Suttons. The pure white Gloxinia "Her Majesty" was
produced by selection and reselection, the elimination of the pink
shades in the type worked upon taking some fourteen or fifteen years.
The "Duchess" type of Primula was a distinct break, resulting from
a cross between a dark crimson flower and a blush type. It is ac-
knowledged to be the most distinct Primula sinensis yet introduced,
and was given an award of merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.
The origin of the single tuberous rooted Begonia (Reading Beauty
strain) dates from 1878. Begonia Pearcei (yellow) was crossed with
Moonshine (small white). By crossing the hybrids, scarlet, coral,
rose, bronze, cream, white, and many other shades of blooms have
been produced; but whereas in 1880 the flowers averaged only 3
to 4 inches across, by continued selection they have been so improved
as to attain to 6 or 8 inches in diameter.
Mr. Sutton's work was on many occasions recognized by the royal
family. Her Majesty Queen Victoria was always very gracious to
him, and at the annual shows, in which the Prince Consort was speci-
ally interested, Mr. Sutton was one of those appointed to accompany
the Queen and explain the most interesting exhibits. He also had
Hays: Constructive Eugenics 5
the honor of personally receiving at Reading the late King Edward
VII, when Prince of Wales, who sent kindest congratulations to him
on the attainment of his eighty-second birthday.
Mr. Sutton took a great interest in religious and philanthropic
work, and many societies besides those in his native town benefited
by his advice and generosity.
He was in his eighty-seventh year when he died, and the work
which he commenced, and which has for many years been continued
by his sons, is now carried on by his sons and grandsons, each of
whom specializes in a particular branch of the business.
CONSTRUCTIVE EUGENICS
Willet M. Hats
Washington, D. C.
Science and practical experience are rapidly evolving plans of so
breeding plants and animals as to discard the undesirable and per-
petuate only the desirable. Much of this work consists simply of
selecting the best species nature has provided, and of selecting within
these species so as to secure and perpetuate as useful varieties those
types into which nature has divided the species. In many cases this
means that marked economic mutations are discovered, the progeny
of which are so far superior that the old stocks are entirely discarded
for the new. Again, the best native and improved stocks each of
which has specially desirable characters are cross-bred and from the
resultant hybrids those in which occur recombinations of the highest
value are secured by selective breeding and are multiplied. And
again, from among those recombined stocks, mutations are sought
and these are multiplied into varieties, again placing the values
higher than before. Thus by these processes, step by step, con-
trolled evolution produces types better fitted to the needs of man
in the production of his food and clothing. And each year the ge-
netic scientists and the breeders of plants and animals add new facts,
clarify their philosophy, and create new bases in the forms of better
foundation varieties and breeds upon which to build the next story
in the achievements of breeding.
The truth is being developed that the facts and technique, the
sensible philosophy and practice which all this work is bringing for-
ward, have a relation to the heredity of man. And while the problem
of the improvement of heredity in the human species seems radically
6 American Breeders Magazine
different from the problem of improving plants and animals, our plant
and animal specialists call our attention to the fact that the breeders
of each class of plants and of each species and even of each breed of
animals have new problems to be solved. And those who are expe-
rienced in the developing of methods of improving the heredity of
the numerous species of plants and of the numerous species or breeds
of domestic animals, see in eugenics only another set of difficulties
such as are being solved yearly by the genetic scientists and practical
breeders who deal with plants and animals.
It must be admitted that the difficulties are more stupendous in
the case of man, but the results are of such paramount importance
that even minor inprovement of the human heredity would yield
high return on the cost of any sensible efforts made in that direc-
tion. That wonderful social institution, monogamy, the comparatively
long life of the individual, the one child at a birth, and the relatively
few children born to the parents, are all limiting factors. Those seem
to be great obstacles as compared with the advantages arising in
the plant kingdom from large numbers and from the brevity of the
life of each generation, as in the breeding of wheat or corn. Yet
there is in eugenics opportunity not only for the application of
selective breeding, with fair prospects of not unduly delayed results,
but also for multiplication of the progeny of human mutants and
improvement by the recombination of desirable characters from sep-
arate families and separate, similar, races.
Much of the discussion of eugenics has been confined to a study of
the defective classes. The eugenic problems concerning the feeble-
minded, the insane, the immoral, and those non-resistant to such dis-
eases as tuberculosis have seemed to be the problems first to be
attempted. The methods of investigation devised by Darwin, Men-
del, and others seem to be especially adapted to a consideration of
the heredity of these classes of unfortunate people. The elimination
from the human network of descent of the characteristics which pro-
duce these inefficient people is alone a problem worth many times any
possible cost that can reasonably be used in the improvement of
the heredity of man. The presentation of the facts concerning the
heredity of human families is fast leading intelligent people past
any prudishness in the scientific discussion of eugenics. And re-
search shows that beyond and above the elimination of the least
efficient 'of 7the race is the substantial improvement, through the
centuries A to come, of the 90 per cent who can not be classed as
defective.
Hays: Constructive Eugenics 7
Speaking broadly, the eugenic problems are much the same through-
out as the problems of plant breeding and animal improvement.
(1) How can we select the genetically best and by more rapidly
multiplying them have the best blood eventually dominant in the
whole of the race?
(2) How can we so recombine the strongest characters of families
and of similar races as to secure from among large numbers of these
recombined groups an opportunity to select better types?
(3) How can we select from the foundation classes and also from
the recombined or hybrid classes mutations the progeny of which,
when multiplied, make marked improvement over the average of the
foundation stocks or of the selected cross-bred stocks?
(4) May we not hope to advance greatly the average of efficiency,
to practically lop off the defective classes below, and also increase the
number of the efficient at the top?
(5) While we must attend to the numerous minor matters and must
continue to work out the science of the subject, shall we forget that
the goal in the end is more splendid races of people, possibly averag-
ing as high in efficiency as the very best individuals the races now
possess?
Modern charity, science, and individual development— and may we
not add also peace — broadly speaking, are rapidly lengthening human
life from an average of approximately thirty-three years to fifty
years. Fifty per cent added to the length of human life will help
eventually to bring our something more than one and one-half billion
of people in the world up toward three billion. It seems conserva-
tive to estimate that by the year 2000 the world will have three
billion people. Shall the world remain in eugenic blindness or shall
it bring to bear the clear light of fact upon the improvement of the
heredity of this vast number of men? Shall the ten billion or more
of human beings which the world eventually may maintain, carry
its load of eugenically defective and its vocationally inefficient, as
well as the present social and civic handicaps, or shall it become a
race with greatly improved heredity trained as highly in the peaceful
arts of production and citizenship as an improved heredity will allow?
It would seem that students of heredity have prepared the race
to evolve its own efficiency, which would respond superbly to the
greatly improved environment made possible by science and religion.
The impulse given by scientists to cast off superstition has made pos-
sible the study of the full nature of man. The altruism which Christ
awoke in humanity should have a vastly purer heredity through
which to carry its blessings to all people.
8 American Breeders Magazine
Then vocational as well as general education can be offered to and
taken advantage of by all youth, whatever may become their func-
tions in society. The races will then be created more nearly equal
and every man will be more nearly equal to every other man. Demo-
cratic forms of business as well as democratic forms of government
will be practicable. Justice, hope, comfort, and happiness will be-
come well-nigh universal. The improvement beyond the present
may be as great as the present is beyond the dark ages.
As the complexities of society increase, as science develops, as the
intricacies of industry and transportation increase, as charity becomes
wider, and as social and governmental agencies become more efficient,
the conditions under which men live are vastly ameliorated. Defec-
tive individuals and families which could not survive under the con-
ditions of society in earlier periods, are now protected. Through
charity, especially, do we interfere with the law of the survival of the
fittest, and since society enables the inefficient to survive, society is
really responsible for the reproduction of the defective classes. It
would seem to be an important function of science to show that the
genetic elimination of such families as are generally subject to feeble-
mindedness, insanity, etc., may be quite as much of a religious duty
as the giving of charity to the deficient individuals of these classes.
It would seem to be a good function of our racial religion to place
the duty of more abundant child bearing on the most efficient classes
and the duty of less abundant child bearing on the least efficient
classes; that thus, in several generations, the network of descent of
the whole race may be developed so as to produce a genetically more
efficient people.
There are two genetic facts of stupendous importance which need
to be faced squarely, and their relation to human progress should be
thought out fearlessly and clearly.
The first is the need of restraining from the function of repro-
duction the genetically deficient classes and families. Scientists
who have studied the heredity of the feeble-minded, the insane, and
several other classes of defectives have proof which abundantly war-
rants the affirmation that individuals who have in their heredity
a large percentage of these defective characteristics have no racial
right to perpetuate their kind, a large percentage of whom cannot
sustain themselves and must be a burden on society. Mendel and
his disciples have given a knowledge of unit characters which warrants
the belief that if all persons with a transmissable defective character
in their heredity were rendered unproductive, by segregation or
Hays: Constructive Eugenics 9
otherwise, nearly all of that characteristic could within a few genera-
tions be eliminated from the network of human descent.
A study of insanity and feeble-mindedness is resulting in an accumu-
lation of facts which should lead to genetic genealogies of the defec-
tive classes and thus to facts upon which to act in the prevention
of such unfit marriages as might be expected to result in the birth
of feeble-minded or otherwise very defective children. It must be
recognized, of course, that the great racial poisons, alcohol and ve-
nereal diseases, have stupendous effects and do doubtless contribute
to these genetic frailties.
As to the means of reducing to a minimum the production of
defective children, there is not room in this brief paper for discussion.
Suffice it to say that even in this most difficult part of the problem
progress is being made by science. The advantage to society of
the elimination of the larger part of these classes which are a great
public economic burden and a heart burden on their families, and
which contribute greatly to crime, is so stupendous that even extra-
ordinary means would seem justified. As a matter of fact, means
devoid of either apparent cruelty or criminality are being sought
for this purpose by the numerous scientists who are working along
this line.
The second fact needing especial emphasis is the loss of genetic
values through war. This fact has been most effectively empha-
sized by Dr. David Starr Jordan, chairman of the Eugenics Section
of the American Breeders Association. The patriotic appeals of
war are strongest to the best men. The young men of high school
and collegiate age go forward to the conflict at arms with a racial
impulse and unity most wonderfully admired by a world in which
courage in arms has ever been worshipped. Not only the losses in
battle but the diseases in camp also greatly reduce the number of
men available for the production of succeeding generations of sound
children. If during the last two thousand years wars had destroyed
the least efficient of the race, instead of the most efficient, the world
would today be far in advance of its present position. And the
time has come when those families with the best blood should demand
on the one hand that the world be peaceful, and on the other that
the best heredity shall be safeguarded, to multiply and possess the
earth.
Eugenics will show the city, state, and nation many things which
should be changed in the interest of posterity. For example, no one
doubts that the farm and the suburban homecrof t are the best places
10 American Breeders Magazine
for children, thay they may develop normally and strongly. No one
disputes the fact that in these homes motherhood's condition is such
that larger families are practicable. There is neither the enervation
of the wealthy home nor the difficulties of the poor home. Here, then,
is where the genetically best families should reside, that here the best
folks may in the best manner produce the most folks.
The strongest argument for the use of vastly larger sums of public
money for good roads in the country and for consolidated rural
schools in which scientific farming and farm home making may be
successfully taught is the eugenic argument. The country should
be made attractive to the best parentage. And it is to the interest
both of the city and of the nation that farming be so profitable, farm
houses so excellent, and such adjuncts to these homes as roads and
schools be so efficient that our best mothers will there find their
largest life's work. From the standpoint of eugenics the state and
nation should be the patrons of country life. Our forms of commerce
having amassed and deposited too much of the nation's wealth in
the centers of population, there must be devised ways of redistri-
buting it where it will be used to the best advantage in the produc-
tion of citizens. Homes should be less heavily taxed. Mothers of
splendid genetic power should be endowed by non-public founda-
tions, and even public endowments for this purpose could be justified.
If the genetically least efficient half of the people would have
families only sufficient in size to maintain their own numbers and
the genetically best half would increase 50 per cent in each gener-
ation of forty years, in two hundred years the best would become
88 per cent of the whole. These statements and figures illustrate
the fact that the country does and doubtless will and should con-
tinue to supply fresh blood to the cities. Neither the city nor the
country can afford to receive defective blood from the other; and
Dr. Ward has abundantly shown the danger to our nation from
the entrance of immigrants who are normal but whose heredity is
defective and results in a percentage of defective children.
[Continued in next number.]
NOTE ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
OF INSANITY IN MASSACHUSETTS.
1901-1910*
E. K Southakd, M.D.
Boston, Massachusetts
1. Abb there Eugenic Areas in Massachusetts?
li. Eugenic and Cacogenic Abbas Defined
ill. The Increase of Commitments of the Insane in Massachusetts. Review of
Factors. (Owen Copp's Data)
iv. Geographical Ibbegularitos in thb Mobbidity-batb as Repbbsented by New
(First) Commitments
v. Findings
Vi. SUMMABT AND CONCLUSIONS
i. Are there Eugenic Areas in Massachusetts? — Are there areas
in Massachusetts which can fitly be termed eugenic areas, areas
maintained socially at least in statu quo by the forces of heredity?
I raise this question; but I must confess the answer is not ready. I
think I can prove (1) that areas exist which might be regarded as
eugenic, (2) that conditions the reverse of eugenic (cacogenic) are
suggested by certain other and quite separate areas, and (3) that a
remarkable parallellism exists, if we may trust available data, in (a)
the output of insanity and allied conditions, (b) the occurrence of
social defectives, and (c) the incidence of general disease, in the areas
considered in the present note. If we bear in mind the comparatively
stable social conditions maintained in both types of area and the
difficulty of explaining by any single set of environmental conditions
the parallelism observed in mental, social, and physical defects, it
will be found not unnatural to ascribe a certain weight to hereditary
forces of varying character in the different regions.
I anticipate that some surprise will greet the statement that the
Berkshire Hills and some of the islands of Massachusetts contain
a group of twelve towns which have a zero rate of insanity production
for the decade 1901-1910. I fancy that the facts may be questioned,
that special conditions of commitment might be invoked, that the
small total population might be thought to lead to exceptional con-
ditions for the decade in question. Nor with the bare facts of com-
mitment-rates from the different towns should I venture to draw more
than the minor conclusions that commitment-rates vary greatly,
from to 20 in a decade per 1,000 inhabitants of a given town.
a Read at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the American Breeders Association, Washington, D. C.
December 29, 1911.
11
12 American Breeders Magazine
Less easy to ascribe to chance or small numbers was the obser-
vation that the towns with highest commitment-rates (far higher
than those of cities, which as a fact I do not here consider) are largely
grouped in the interior of the Commonwealth and are neither west of
the Connecticut River in the higher hill region nor on the seacoast.
Interesting, too, was the parallelism that shortly transpired in re-
spect to the development of conditions allied to insanity: the zero rate
for insanity was maintained for feeble-mindedness, epilepsy, and in-
ebriety in the towns we are tempted to term eugenic; whereas these
allied conditions were found freely and proportionately developing
in the other group.
To me the most convincing argument was afforded by the compara-
tive findings of the census enumerators of the Massachusetts census
of 1905. Not only did the enumerators find relatively fewer mental
and allied cases in the homes in the "eugenic" group, but — and here
the disparity was striking — relatively far more paupers and criminals
in the "cacogenic" group, and, lastly, a darker background,of general
bodily disease in the "cacogenic" group. There was thus a sort
of conspiracy among otherwise unrelated statistical facts which might
discover its true arch-conspirator in the forces of heredity.
Before giving in more detail the findings so far obtained, I will,
first, define more narrowly in a short section (ii) what eugenic areas,
especially in Massachusetts, might be taken to mean. Secondly,
in another short section (iii), I will rehearse the facts that led me to
conceive that there might be significant geographical irregularities
in the insanity production of Massachusetts towns.
ii. Eugenic and Cacogenic Areas Defined. — The eugenic area of
state or country can be rightly defined both positively and negatively.
An area in which the forces of heredity are operating to produce a
better human stock is eugenic in a positive, incremental, evolu-
tionary sense. If the hereditary forces are engaged merely in the
prevention of deterioration within a given area, we may still usefully
define such an area as eugenic, but in a negative or stationary sense.
For the immediate purposes of society the more useful definition is
very possibly the latter. Sufficient unto the day for practical prop-
agandists is the more modest program which seeks to maintain at
least our present social level, to hold, as it were, our human stocks
at par.
Indeed, the incremental program of artificial human evolution,
culminating in what might be termed the aristogenic program of
producing more and greater great men for the world, at present hardly
Southard: Insanity in Massachusetts 13
escapes ridicule and certainly leaves your practical, Anglo-Saxon
economist rather cold. The practical man is apt to feel, though he
cannot readily prove, that the forces of deterioration are overcoming
any possible forces of betterment, that the operation of hereditary
forces, so far from acting in the eugenic or aristogenic direction, is
slowly or rapidly pulling down the level of society. To prove this
assumed levelling-down of society in a state, the ordinary citizen is
likely to point to such and such places where degeneracy is rife, crime
rampant, and pauperism supreme. Doubtless such areas exist and
might be usefully termed cacogenic areas, in so far as heredity can
be proved to underlie their social decline.
The data available for the present note (whose purpose is entirely
one of orientation in the matter) permit remarks merely in the direc-
tion of that more modest eugenics which seeks to maintain the present
social level. Moreover the materials of the note are limited in the
main to certain forms of so-called degeneracy (insanity, f eeble-minded-
ness, epilepsy, inebriety).
Massachusetts is of particular interest in this direction. Aside
from the well-known spiritual pride of Bostonians, a statistical basis
for the eminence of Massachusetts in certain departments has been
given by Dr. F. A. Woods, b from a study of the unprejudiced pages
of Who's Who in America, Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary, and
American Men of Science. However, we hear much at home con-
cerning the decline of native stocks, rural degeneracy, and the increase
of insanity and mental defect in the commonwealtji at large. These
rumors, coupled with suspicion of many immigrating stocks (to
say nothing of the observation of mutual suspicions between the
different immigrating races), lead many lovers of society to sorrow
for Massachusetts.
Although such sorrow is born of statistics, I do not expect to al-
lay it by more statistics. Hereditary forces have always produced
in Massachusetts pessimists-in-the-bud and reformers-in-the-bloom.
Mere facts of statistics hardly count against hereditary ideas. Much
of our reform spirit is truly aristogenic, if not otherwise Utopian,
in its aim.
ill. The Increase of Commitments of the Insane in Massachusetts. '
Review of Factors. — Regardless of eugenics, one good reason for a close
investigation of the distribution of insanity in Massachusetts is the
supposed increase of insanity in the institutions of the commonwealth.
b Woods, F. A., Hlstoriometry as an Exact Science. Science, n. s., vol. xxxlll, no. 850, pp. 568-
574, April 14, 1911.
14 American Breeders Magazine
Owen Copp's work under the Board of Insanity shows conclusively
enough that such major factors as (1) increase of general population,
(2) declining discharge rate from the hospitals, and (3) immigration,
as well as factors of smaller range like (4) the greater inclusiveness
of the modern classification "insane, " (5) greater longevity outside
hospitals, uncovering possibly more senile dements, (6) greater longev-
ity inside the hospitals, which bears on the lowering discharge rate,
(7) more frequent commitments of dotards both by friends and by
town officials, and (8) the trend to city life which is less consistent than
country life with home care of the mentally defective, are factors
together responsible for the increase of visible insanity. The accumu-
lation-rate, in brief, is .not the morbidity-rate. , These conclusions
of the Massachusetts Board of Insanity have been adopted and
printed in summary form by the Massachusetts Commission of 1910
"To Investigate the Question of the Increase of Criminals, Mental
Defectives, Epileptics, and Degenerates/' which concludes in its
report (January, 1911) that "only one-fifth of the accumulation
(in hospitals) is due to increase in the ratio of admission of new cases
of insanity. There is no evidence of a marked increase in the number
of new cases of insanity in the community. "
iv. Oeographical Irregularities in the Morbidity-rate of New Com-
mitments of the Insane. — Reflection upon such facts leads to the con-
ception that there may be irregularities in the production of insanity
in different communities of Massachusetts and that these irregular-
ities may tend ta balance each other. Indeed, if the conditions
reported by social workers and by field workers in eugenics be at
all representative, it seems irresistibly certain that cacogenic forces
in one area are countervailed by eugenic forces in another, or that
the up and down forces of heredity may mingle in the one and the
same area.
I have made a small beginning upon this problem of the distri-
bution of eugenic and cacogenic forces in respect to mental disease
in Massachusetts by a study of data available at the office of the Board
of Insanity. I make this report of progress in order to stir others
to a similar study of the neglected bright side as well as the all too
obvious dark side of this division of social service, and especially
to a study of regions of another make-up.
c Report of the Commission (Waiter E. Feraald, Hollis M. Blaokstone, Everett Flood, Benjamin
F. Bridges, Ernest V. Serlbner) to Investigate the Question of the Increase of Criminals, Mental
Defectives, Epileptics and Degenerates, created by Chapter 60, Acts of 1010, Massachusetts, State
Printers, January, 1911.
Southard: Insanity in Massachusetts 15
I have limited my consideration for the present to the new cases
(first commitments) of insanity in Massachusetts in the decade 1901-
1910. I have been especially aided by the elaborate Census of Massa-
chusetts in 1905, both volume I (Population and Social Statistics)
available in 1909 d and volume II (Occupations and Defective Condi-
tions) available in 1910. e The conditions found in the mid-decade
state censuses may well serve as the characteristic conditions of the
decade in question.
v. Findings, — The statistician will note (1) that the commitment
rates here. discussed are first- or new-commitment rates for the decade
and give no picture of accumulation rates in hospitals, (2) that the
available figures were based on 1910 population for the commitment-
rates, on 1905 population for census-rates of defectives, and (3) that
the commitments and non-institutional defectives are classified by
residence and not by birthplace. The study is accordingly in the
first instance environmental, and eugenic sensu strictiori only in so
far as the persons in question are native-born. Only elaborate and
year-long study could answer with exactness how far environmental,
and how far hereditary, forces are responsible for the geographical
irregularities here displayed. My usage of the term "eugenic" and
its antonym "cacogenic" might therefore be opposed on the ground
that hereditary forces have not been proved to account for the dif-
ferences. But the usage is in sufficient accord with Galton's.
I find (1) a somewhat maxfc*rfy uneven distribution of insane
commitments, classified by^mnties of residence. The ratios (figured
on the population of 1910) vary from 4.2 per 1,000 in the island
county of Dukes (Martha's Vineyard, etc.) to 9.4 per 1,000 in the
metropolitan county of Suffolk (Boston, etc.). The island county of
Nantucket has a high ratio, 8.1 per 1,000, but the figures — popu-
lation (1910) 2,962, first commitments 24 (1901-1910)— are perhaps
exceptional. On the face of the figures, the island counties differ
markedly, just as we shall find other apparently similar regions
differing from one another. Other counties (besides Suffolk and Nan-
tucket) having ratios higher than that of the State at large — 7 per
1,000 (first commitments 1901-1910) — are Hampshire County in the
south-Massachusetts part of the Connecticut River Valley and the
midland county of Worcester, both yielding a ratio of 7.2 per 1,000.
Essex, the northeastern seacoastcounty /approaches the general com-
d Census of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1005, vol. 1, Population and Social Statistics,
State Printers, 1009.
e Ibid., vol. ii, Occupations and Defective Conditions, 1010.
16
American Breeders Magazine
monwealth rate, reaching 6.8 per 1,000. Rounding off the figures,
we arrive for the counties at this series (calculated on population
of 1910) :
TABLE 1
Per 1,000
Suffolk 9
Nantucket 8
Essex 7
Hampshire 7
Worcester 7
Bristol 6
Franklin 6
Per 1,000
Middlesex 6
Plymouth 6
Barnstable 5
Berkshire 5
Hampden 5
Norfolk 5
Dukes 4
The Commonwealth 7
Having thus established the general likelihood of geographical vari-
ations in insane-commitment rates of a significance involving (but
possibly deeper than) the urban vs. rural variation, I directed atten-
tion to the towns and found that (2) classification by residence in
towns, just as by residence in counties, revealed surprisingly uneven
distribution of first commitments. Though the towns as a whole
show a markedly lower ratio (5.7 per 1,000) than the cities as a whole
(7.6 per 1,000), yet individual towns to the number of twenty equalled
or excelled the highest city ratio, viz. 10.1 per 1,000. Indeed, ten
of these twenty towns yielded far" higher ratios than that of the city
in question, viz., ratios from 12.5 to 20.8 per 1,000. The highest
ratio (20.8 per l,000)is in one respect artificial and it would befairer
to state the highest ratio as about 18.8 per 1,000.
So much in support of rural degeneracy! But I found that (3)
there are twelve Massachusetts towns from which no insane have
been committed in the decade 1901-1910. This possibly eugenic role
with respect to insanity is assumed by —
Monroe Peru
Mt. Washington Washington
New Ashf ord Wendell
Of these, three (Chilmark, Gay Head, and Gosnold) are in the island
county of Dukes, and furnish in part the explanation of the low
general percentage of Dukes County (4 per 1,000) which was so sur-
prising in contrast with the 8 per 1,000 of Nantucket.
Of the others, all but two are west of the Connecticut River and
might be classed as Berkshire Hill towns (Monroe on the Vermont
line is the north westernmost town of Franklin County). Wendell
is in Franklin County, and Holland is in Hampden County on the
Alford
Gosnold
Chilmark
Hancock
Gay Head
Holland
Southard: Insanity in Massachusetts 17
Connecticut line. The region, then, . of seven of the towns which
have produced no first commitments in 1901-1910 is the Berkshire
Hill region, characterized by a general level of 1800 feet above the
sea, narrow but fertile valleys, dairying opportunities, and the New
York summer colony.
No Berkshire town yields percentages approaching those of the
maximal town percentages, and I find that (4) the regional occurrence,
studied comparatively in these two groups of zero and maximal
commitment-rate, is roughly suggestive: Some island towns and
several hill towns have contributed little or no insane in the period
of study, whereas five Worcester County towns, two towns on the
eastern line of Worcester County, and five other towns (none west
of the Connecticut River and none on the seacoast) have supplied
maximal ratios of first commitments (13 to 19 per 1,000). To
unravel the reasons for these conditions in particular towns would
be % a very worthy object of a sociological survey on broad lines. f This
we hope to compass some day. Meantime there are available some
data of value.
(5) The question might naturally be raised: If twelve towns
are producing no committed insane, may they not be producing
other so-called forms of degeneracy? Search of the records has
shown, however, that in 1901-1910 none of these towns has produced
any committed cases of (a) insanity, (b) feeble-mindedness, (c) epi-
lepsy, (d) inebriety. The towns with maximal insanity-percentages
have produced other so-called forms of degeneracy in all cases but
two. In more detail, the twelve possibly cacogenic towns chosen
to compare with the twelve possibly eugenic towns have produced
189 new cases of insanity in 1901-1910.
29 new cases of feeble-mindedness in 1901-1910.
10 new cases of epilepsy in 1901-1910.
8 new cases of inebriety in 1901-1910.
being in all 15.3 per 1,000 of the population in 1910.
(6) The ratio of degenerates discovered by census in these towns
hardly alters the above conclusions. In the absence of an intensive
sociological survey, we can test the value of certain data of the Massa-
chusetts Census of 1905. The findings of the census enumerators
should be equally reliable (or unreliable) for the two groups. They
found in the homes as of May 1, 1905, representatives of our four
classes :
f Davenport, C. B., Heredity in Relation to Eugenics. New York, 1911, pp. 267-269.
18 American Breeders Magazine
In twelve eugenic(?) towns 8 (26 per 1,000)
In twelve cacogenic (?) towns 47 (30 per 1,000)
We should perhaps expect a greater difference than we find in the
two groups. Such as it is the difference is in favor of the relatively
non-degenerate towns. The findings may possibly be consistent with
factor 8 discussed in our review of Copp's work on the supposed
increase of the insane, viz, the greater likelihood of commitment of
cases from larger than from smaller towns.
(7) The background of social defectives as a whole is a blacker
background for the twelve towns with high insanity-rates. As social
defectives, following the Massachusetts Census of 1905, we may
classify prisoners, juvenile offenders, paupers, and neglected children.
The census enumerators found social defectives as follows:
In twelve eugenic (?) towns 24 (8 per 1,000)
In twelve cacogenic (?) towns 310 (20 per 1,000)
(The difference is still sharper when we consider that 12 of the 24
social defectives in the eugenic (?) towns were from a single town
(Washington) and may have represented unusual conditions, actual
or incidental in enumeration.)*
(8) The general medical and social status (established by extracting
ratios for the totals of physical and social defectives) of the possibly
cacogenic towns is somewhat worse than the general medical and
social status of the possibly eugenic towns (53 per 1,000 against 44
per 1,000).
(9) The total population of the twelve eugenic (?) towns is far
smaller than that of the twelve cacogenic (?) towns. The population
of the eugenic (?) group is slightly decreasing, 3209 (1900) to 2945
(1910) ; that of the cacogenic (?) groups is slightly increasing 15,385
(1900) to 15,415 (1910).
(10) The nativity of the general population of these groups (1905)
was as follows:
Eugenic (?) Cacogenic
group. (?) gioup.
Native-born 83 84
Parents native-born 73 67
Grandparents native-born 67 60
This ratio suggests a greater instability (in respect to the conditions
here studied) in the more mobile population.
E Eleven neglected male children and one pauper.
Southard: Insanity in Massachusetts 19
vi. Summary and conclusions. — The eugenic area or areas of a
region are characterized by the operation of hereditary factors in
either (a) the improvement of the contained human stocks or (b)
the maintenance of these stocks in statu quo.
The aristogenic program is that extreme eugenic program which
seeks to produce more and greater great men for the world by more
effective mating.
Against an ideal aristogenic program are operating certain deteri-
orating factors of hereditary nature (cacogenic factors).
The data immediately available in Massachusetts may be used in
the study of eugenic areas in the second or negative sense (see b
above), with respect to insanity.
The morbidity-rate of the Massachusetts insane commitments is
not the same as the accumulation-rate, as an effect of many com-
bined causes (Owen Copp's data).
One possibly eugenic area exists in Massachusetts in three island
townships; another, in nine more scattered western townships (seven
in the Berkshire Hill region).
The twelve possibly cacogenic towns have produced, in 1901-
1910, 236 new cases of insanity and allied conditions, being 15 per
1,000 of the population of these towns in 1910 (total Massachusetts
rate 7 per 1,000) highest single town rate considered 19 per 1,000;
Suffolk County (Boston, etc.) rate (9 per 1,000); highest single city
rate 10 per 1,000.
These possibly cacogenic townships lie chiefly in the midland
county of Worcester and in no case west of the Connecticut River
or on the seacoast.
The possibly eugenic and possibly cacogenic towns as considered
from the commitment standpoint remain so to a degree when con-
sidered from the standpoint of the census of the same four classes
enumerated in the townships May 1, 1905, viz, 2.6 per 1,000 in the
former to 3 per 1,000 in the latter group.
A more striking numerical disparity was shown by the census of
social defectives (prisoners, juvenile offenders, paupers, and neg-
lected children) May 1, 1905, viz, 8 per 1,000 in the eugenic group
to 20 per 1,000 in the cacogenic group.
The population of the eugenic group is small (2945, in 1910) as
compared with that of the cacogenic group (15,415 in 1910); the
eugenic group is falling somewhat, the cacogenic group rising some-
what in general population.
The nativity of the general population in the two groups differs
20 American Breeders Magazine
little, 830 per 1,000: 840 per 1,000; but the eugenic group has a some-
what higher percentage of native-born parents and a still higher
percentage of native-born grandparents, and may therefore represent
somewhat stabler stocks, than the cacogenic group.
The general medical and social picture presented by the census
of 1905 is distinctly worse for the cacogenic group than for the eugenic
group, suggesting that the insanities and allied conditions are apt
to occur in a background of more general diseases.
If we assume that active eugenic measures are the duty of society
on the principles of self-preservation or of self-improvement, then
such measures must begin somewhere. The present note has no
measures to propose, but merely displays certain concrete social
differences in different regions of Massachusetts. The prevailing
laissez-faire policy cannot safely fall back on the idea that all the
stocks are "just generally degenerating" and that we "should not
know where to begin." I should therefore advocate more intensive
locality-studies in Massachusetts, as well as elsewhere, and the
collection of social statistics through every public and private chan-
nel in preparation for that active eugenic program which the concrete
data will be sure to indicate.
If there be a statistical correlation between insanity, crime, pauper-
ism, and disease, there may be a deeper causal relation between
some of these factors.
OUR IMMIGRATION LAWS FROM THE VIEW
POINT OF EUGENICS 4
Robert DeC. Ward
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
How far do our present immigration laws enable us to exclude
those aliens who are physically, mentally, and morally undesirable
for parenthood; those whose coming here will tend to produce an
inferior rather than a superior American race; those who, in other
words, are eugenically unfit for race culture? We, in the United
States, have an opportunity which is unique in history for the prac-
tice of eugenic principles. Our country was founded and developed
by picked men and picked women. And today, by selecting our
immigrants through proper legislation, we have the power to pick
a Read before the Eugenics Section of the American Breeders Association, Washington, D. C,
December 29, 1911.
Ward: Our Immigration Laws 21
out thie best specimens of each race to be the parents of our future
citizens.
The responsibility which rests upon this country in this matter
is overwhelming. We may decide upon what merits, physical, in-
tellectual, or moral, the fathers and mothers of American children
shall be selected. But we have left the choice almost altogether to
the selfish interests which do not care whether we want the kind of
immigrants they bring or whether the immigrants will be the better
for coming. Steamship agents and brokers all over Europe and
western Asia are today deciding for us the character of the American
race of the future.
It is no argument against practising eugenic ideas in the selection
of our alien immigrants to say that the New England country towns
are full of hopelessly degenerate native Americans, who are inferior,
mentally, morally, physically, to the "sturdy peasants of Europe."
The degeneracy of our country native stock is probably chiefly due
to the drawing-ofif of the stronger and more capable men and women
to the cities; to prolonged inbreeding, and to the continued repro-
duction of feeble-mindedness, which is rife in many of our country
districts. It will not help to reduce the number of our native degen-
erates if we admit alien degenerates. National eugenics for us means
the prevention of the breeding of the unfit native, as well as the
prevention of the immigration, and of the breeding after admission,
of the unfit alien.
Should we not exercise at least the same care in admitting human
beings that we are now exercising in relation to animals, to insect
pests, or to disease germs? Yet it is actually true that we are today
taking more pains to see that a Hereford bull, or a Southdown ewe,
imported for the improvement of our cattle, is sound and free from
disease than we take in the admission of an alien man or woman
who will be a parent of American children. We do not hesitate
to prohibit the importation of cattle from a foreign country where
a serious cattle disease is prevalent. It is only in very extreme
cases indeed that we have ever taken such a step in connection
with the importation of aliens. Yet there are thousands of aliens
every year who should not be allowed to enter this country for reasons
which are eugenically of the first importance.
Our present laws aim to exclude some twenty-one classes of men-
tally, physically, morally, and economically undesirable aliens. On
paper the list of the excluded classes is long and formidable, and
seems more than sufficient to accomplish our eugenic purposes. But
22 American Breeders Magazine
«
the fact is that careful and unprejudiced students of immigration
agree that these laws do not keep out the unfit so as to preserve
the status quo, to say nothing of promoting eugenic improvement.
We already have an army of probably not less than 150,000 feeble-
minded in the United States, of whom only about 10 per cent are
in institutions, the rest being free to propagate their kind. And
of those in institutions the large proportion are kept there only
temporarily, being at liberty for much of the time during their repro-
ductive period. The same is true of thousands of criminals, whom
we shut up for varying periods of time, but allow, in the intervals when
they are out of prison, to populate the world with children much of
whose inheritance is criminal. We are today legalizing the begetting
of criminal children by failing to give permanent custodial care to
habitual criminals.
Further, there are more than 150,000 insane in the institutions of
the United States alone, and of these many have already left offspring
to perpetuate their insanity. In spite of this appalling situation —
appalling from the standpoint of mere sentiment and of mere philan-
thropy — doubly appalling from the standpoint of eugenics, we have
been admitting alien insane, and alien imbeciles, and alien epileptics
and alien criminals, partly because of a lax enforcement of the law
under former administrations; partly because the law is incapable,
under existing conditions, of effective enforcement. The dispropor-
tionate increase of alien insane, of alien imbeciles, of alien criminals,
and many other facts which may be ascertained by any person who
is interested in this question, show that, as just stated, our immigra-
tion laws do not now enable us to preserve the status quo. Sir Fran-
cis Galton has clearly shown that "each married degenerate produces
on the average one child who is as degenerate as himself or herself,
and others in whom the taint is latent but liable to appear in a suc-
ceeding generation. ' ' Further, it is well known that imbeciles have
larger families than normal persons, and that they also have a large
number of illegitimate children. Parenthood on the part of all these
classes of persons, native or alien, is a crime against the future. To
admit to this country the feeble-minded, the insane, the epileptic,
the habitual criminal, is no less a crime against the future.
The ideal eugenic selection of our immigrants would be possible
only if we could have a fairly complete history, running back a few
generations, showing the hereditary tendencies of each alien. This
is certainly in the immediate future impracticable, but there are
some things we can do. We can insist that each alien, on land-
Ward: Our Immigration Laws 23
ing here, should undergo a very thorough mental and physical exami-
nation at the hands of 010* Public Health and Marine Hospital Service
surgeons. These examinations would involve the stripping to the
skin of each alien, the usual physical examination for physical defects,
mental tests, tests for syphilis, and similar precautions. Is this
too much to demand when the welfare of the future American race
is at stake? I have myself seen thousands of aliens landed, and I
have marvelled at the skill with which our surgeons are now able,
by the most superficial examination as the aliens file by, at the rate
of several a minute, to detect some of the physical and even some
of the mental defects which put these aliens into one or another of
the classes which may be excluded. But such a superficial exami-
nation is all wrong. It is nothing short of a crime to admit people,
as often happens in a rush season, at the rate of 3,000, 4,000, or
5,000 in one" day at Ellis Island. On April 11, 1910, 7,931 im-
migrants were inspected by the medical officers. Think of that!
And these medical officers were supposed to detect any mental and
physical defect which might exclude! I believe that we ought- to
limit the number of aliens who shall be landed in one day to a certain
number which could reasonably well be carefully inspected. We
ought largely to increase the number of the surgeons detailed for
that most important work of inspecting arriving aliens. We ought
to enlarge the accommodations at some of our immigrant stations,
in order that this work might be properly carried out.
Again, we can go a long way towards the accomplishment of our
object by increasing the fines which the steamship companies now
pay when they bring over an. alien who is found, on our own exam-
ination here, to be an idiot, imbecile, epileptic, or suffering from a
loathsome or dangerous contagious disease which could have been
detected at the port of departure. The fine is now only $100. The
steamship companies pay little attention to the provision. They
run their chances of having such aliens detected on landing, and in
some cases they insure themselves against possible loss by obliging
the alien to deposit $100 when he buys his ticket. Now, if we increase
this fine to $500, and that is none too large, the steamship companies
would themselves, without expense to us, make a much more thorough
examination abroad, before sailing. Further, for the more effective
detection of aliens who are physically, mentally, and morally undesir-
able, and who are already enumerated in our list of classes excluded*
by existing law, we should put immigrant inspectors and our own
surgeons on board of all immigrant-carrying vessels. These officials,
24 American Breeders Magazine
mingling with the immigrants on the voyage over, should see that
they are properly treated and cared for; that they are not over-
crowded; and that they receive adequate medical attention. But,
of far greater importance than that, these officials would be able
to detect a great many cases of physical and of mental defect which
we can not possibly detect in our necessarily hurried examination
when these people land. And in this way we should be able to
exclude and to send back far larger numbers of eugenically undesir-
able aliens than is at present possible, however strictly we may try
to enforce the law. An immigration bill introduced into the Senate
in August last by Senator Dillingham of Vermont, numbered S.
3175, contains an excellent clause which provides for just such inspec-
tion on the voyage over as I have here advocated. We ought all
to do what we can to have that bill enacted into law.
In addition to these steps which we should take, and take instantly,
to accomplish the more effective exclusion of the insane, the imbecile,
the idiot, the tuberculous, and those afflicted with loathsome or danger-
ous contagious diseases, we ought to amend our laws so that it will
be. possible to exclude more aliens of such low vitality and poor
physique that they are eugenically undesirable for parenthood. The
law of 1907 excludes persons "who are found to be and are certified
by the examining surgeon as being mentally or physically defective,
such mental or physical defect being of a nature which may affect
the ability of such alien to earn a living." This clause has been
found to be rather ineffective, partly because it has been taken to
be an economic test and not a physical one; partly because of other
provisions in the same act which largely nullify this section by making
it possible to admit on bonds aliens who fall into the group here named.
Now aliens of such low vitality, poor physique, or suffering from
such mental or physical defect that their ability to earn a living is
thereby interfered with are highly undesirable persons, economically
as well as eugenically, in the large majority of cases. They are not
only themselves weaklings and unlikely to resist disease, but they
are likely to have defective and degenerate children. Bonds will
not prevent them from breeding. We constantly speak of the need
of more "hands" to do our labor. We forget that that we are import-
ing, not "hands" alone, but bodies also. The vast majority of
incoming alien immigrants are potential fathers and mothers. And
the character of the race that is here to be born depends upon the
kind of alien bodies which we as voters, and therefore as having some
control over our legislation, are allowing to have landed on our
Ward: Our Immigration Laws 25
shores day by day. We ought to take this seriously to heart. It
is a tremendous responsibility which rests upon us.
Conservation of our natural resources: How much we hear about
that! Conservation of American forests is important. So is con-
servation of American coal, and oil, and natural gas, and water
supply, and fisheries. But the conservation and improvement of the
American race is vastly more important than all other conservation.
The real wealth of a nation is the quality of its people. Of what
value are endless acres of forests, millions of tons of coal, and bil-
lions of gallons of water, if the race is not virile, and sane, and
sound?
Fearfully misguided has been most of our so-called philanthropy.
We have housed and clothed and fed the defective, the degenerate,
the delinquent, to such an extent that we have encouraged them to
reproduce their kind in ever-growing numbers. We have spent in-
creasing sums for asylums, almshouses, prisons, and hospitals, in
which we have temporarily confined the insane, the pauper, the criminal,
the imbecile; leaving them free, during most of their lives, to propa-
gate their kind. It is a fact, disguise it as we will, that we have taxed
ourselves to support institutions which hrve resulted in increasing
and not decreasing the number of the unfit. We have before us an
immediate duty, of tremendous importance, in caring for our own
unfit; in seeing to it, by adequate legislation, that the insane, the
criminal, the feeble-minded, and similar classes are permanently seg-
regated, so that they cannot reproduce their kind to be a further
burden upon the nation, and in enacting laws which shall prevent
the marriage of those whose offspring will be unfit.
But, in addition to our own very heavy burden of those who are
defective or degenerate, we are adding every year, by immigration,
many hundreds if not thousands of aliens whose presence here will
inevitably result, because of their own defects, or those of their
offspring, in lowering the physical and mental and moral standards
of the American race.
We readily admit that we have much to learn about heredity.
But of some things we are already sure. Enough is known to make
it absolutely essential, if the quality of the American race is to be
preserved, that there should be a far more careful selection of our
incoming alien immigrants, on eugenic grounds, than we have ever
attempted.
The need is imperative for applying eugenic principles in much
of our legislation. But the greatest, the most logical, the most
26 American Breeders Magazine
effective step that we can take is to begin with a proper eugenic
selection of the incoming alien millions. If we, in our generation,
take these steps, we shall earn the gratitude of millions of those who
will come after us, for we shall have begun the real conservation of
the American race.
Let us see to it that we are protected, not merely from the burden
of supporting alien defectives, delinquents, and dependents, but
from what George William Curtis so well called that "watering of
the nation's life-blood" which is the result of their breeding after
admission.
ALTERNATIVE HUMAN INHERITANCE AND
EUGENICS 4
F. Adams Woods, M.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The sharp contrasts in traits of character between children born
of the same parents and educated under the same surroundings
is often a matter of wonderment, and such variations in the human
strip, reckless as they at first sight seem in their individualistic
expressions, have often deterred belief in the value of heredity. The
real lesson is quite the reverse and these same contrasts when rightly
understood form perhaps the strongest argument in favor of mental
inheritance. They support the belief in the essentially predetermined
nature of such differences as commonly exist between man and man,
and bring the whole question of family and individual vicissitudes
within the scope and understanding of the germ-cell theory.
The phrase "alternative heredity" was in use before the rediscov-
ery of Mendel's law in 1900. It is a broader, looser term than strict
Mendelian heredity, and does not raise the question of dominance
and recession. It does, however, involve the idea of segregation of
the germ-plasm and is a convenient term to employ when "factors"
and "units," "dominance" and "recession" have not yet been
unravelled.
There have been a number of researches published lately on human
inheritance. They all, as far as I know, show alternative inheritance
or an approach to the pure Mendelian segregation, and confirm a
belief which I had forced upon me some dozen years ago, that human
a Head before meeting of Eugenics Section of the American Breeders Association at Washington,
D. C, December 30, 1911.
Woods: Human Inheritance and Eugenics 27
traits would be found in the main to be non-blending, — not an
absolute election or exclusion of a large or important trait, but what
is better expressed as a rough alternative inheritance. Anyone
tracing out family histories can scarcely fail to notice this principle
if he is careful to include in the records all the members of a group
of close relatives — all the sons and daughters, all the uncles and aunts,
and all of the ancestors for two or three generations. The reason
why this mode of human descent- has not been generally noticed
I attributed to the fact that complete family records are difficult
to obtain, especially as regards mental and moral differences.
'Workers on the question of human heredity who had used scien-
tific methods at all had confined themselves largely to questions
of averages, of coefficients, and of correlation without making criti-
cal studies of small groups. Furthermore, private family records
are often vitiated by purposely suppressed information. Unless the
greatest care be taken to unearth the truth, the bad traits which
stand out in alternative contrast to the good traits may not be ob-
tained.
Now that records are being collected and constructed in a thorough
way and the detailed pedigrees published, the facts of alternative
inheritance are obvious. As a result of studies in royalty I found
such traits as the following to be in a general sense alternative in
descent — high intellectual qualities, which might be called genius,
alternating with lesser mentality or mediocrity, or perhaps with mental
deficiencies of a marked nature, distinct moral elevation alternating
in the same way with ordinary or average types, or very often with
notorious moral deficiencies. Marked types of brutality and de-
bauchery show little tendency to lose themselves by blending, as
they are passed on through the generations. It is very easy to see
that such traits as licentiousness, treacherousness, cruelty, chastity,
benevolence, and honesty, if not absolute unit characters, neverthe-
less hold themselves together more or less as a unit; and the facts
of distribution on the pedigree charts are only to be explained if we
suppose considerable germ-plasm segregation to take place. There is
also a tendency for many of the features of the .face to be inherited
as units, such as the form of the nose, the slope of the forehead, the
shape of the lips and chin.
Within the last two years some very complete pedigrees have been
compiled by the Francis Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics
in\The Treasury of Human Inheritance. These have been pub-
lished with the idea of merely bringing forward the facts and have
28 American Breeders Magazine
not yet been subjected to analysis or theoretical interpretation. They
show alternative inheritance for diabetes insipidus, split-foot, poly-
dactylism, brachydactylism, pulmonary tuberculosis, deaf-mutism,
marked ability, chronic trophoedema, angio-neurotic oeedma, herma-
phroditism, hemophilia, insanity and allied characters, and probably
for commercial ability and liberal thought. In none of the pedigrees
within the Treasury is blending apparent.
But it does not appear that we can, with the exception of hemo-
philia and brachydactylism, make any of these traits either a domi-
nant or a recessive. Brachydactylism appears to be a dominant,
and the descendants of unaffected parents do not transmit the defect.
Polydactylism, however, shows 24 cases in which the anomaly reap-
peared when both parents were unaffected. Therefore polydacty-
lism is not clearly a distinct dominant like brachydactylism. That
polydactylism is not a recessive is made probable by its frequent
transmission by direct descent. It is improbable that the normal
mates of these transmitters should all come from affected stocks,
since polydactylism is such a rare anomaly. For chronic trophoedema
there are 7, for angio-neurotic oedema 22, and for diabetes insipidus
24 cases, comparable to these 24 cases of polydactylism. For all
the other traits here described, cases arise which prevent one from
classifying them as dominant or recessive.
Even if factors and units can not at present be worked out, for
many human characteristics, the appreciation of the general prin-
ciple of alternative heredity has this double value. It shows that
processes are at work during the maturation of the human gametes
which lead towards segregation and gametic purity, and consequently
one is stimulated to further research, to analysis of the complex into
its elements, and to the hope of finding simpler factors or units.
The other lesson is this: The more these contrasts are found to
exist and to breed true, to be equally characteristic of psychical and
of physical traits, the more credit must be given to forces predeter-
mined in the germ. Chromosomes and gametes, from every point
of view, are in the light of our present knowledge now expected to
give rise to alternative heredity. Environment (or more technically
modification) on the other hand should tend to eliminate the con-
trasts. The fact that these differences are not obliterated even among
those living in the same homes and the same social atmosphere is a
strong argument in favor of germ-plasm causation and a support
to the advocates of eugenics.
THE EFFECT OF RESEARCH IN GENETICS ON
THE ART OF BREEDING"
Herbert J. Webber
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.
The knowledge of breeding has advanced so rapidly in recent
years that few of us realize the great change that has taken place
in our understanding of the fundamental principles, and the effect
which this change has had on the methods of practical breeding
that we advocate. I had the good fortune to begin my studies and
experiments in breeding in 1890, ten years before the rediscovery
of Mendel's now famous principles of heredity, or the publication
of De Vries' mutation theory. I have thus had the opportunity to
follow this change through all its ramifications. From a condition
of ignorance and largely of chaos, where all advance was taken as
a lucky chance, we hav£ developed to a position where practically
each step may be taken intelligently. True, we touch the limits of
knowledge on every hand and many of the most fundamental prob-
lems still remain unsolved, yet our understanding today, which
enables us to analyze a plant into its component parts or characters
and then in turn, by synthesis, to build up a new structure by the
combination of different characters into a new race or variety, is to
our former understanding as light to darkness. The knowledge
of breeding has developed into the science of genetics, and is fast
assuming, through the orderly presentation and classification of
facts, the form of an exact science. Yet, with all this advance in
our understanding, the methods of breeding which can be recom-
mended for the use of practical breeders have changed but little in
the last twenty years, the greatest change being primarily in the
greater surety with which we now make recommendations. It is
my purpose in this address to emphasize certain salient features of
the advance that has been achieved, and point out what I conceive
to be some of the most important problems awaiting solution.
Twenty years ago our understanding of the principles of breeding
was derived largely from Knight's physiological papers, and Dar-
win's Origin of Species and Plants and Animals under Domestication.
Verlot's admirable pamphlet On the Production and Fixation of Varie-
ties of Ornamental Plants gave a general outline of the best methods
then followed, and we derived our knowledge of the use of hybrids
a Paper No. 27, Department of Plant Breeding, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Annual
address of retiring chairman of the Plant Section, American Breeders Association, delivered
December 30, 1911.
29
30 American Breeders Magazine
largely from Focke's excellent text, Die Pflanzenmischlinge, published
in 1880, and the work of the French experimenter Naudin.
At that time breeders clearly understood the fact that hybrids
segregated in the second generation and gave new combinations of
characters, and the suggestion was even then present in the minds
of scientific breeders that this segregation of characters took place
during the reduction division. At that time breeders, just as defi-
nitely as now, planned experiments in hybridizing different varieties
or species to secure certain recombinations of desired characters in
the hybrids. The experiments in citrus hybridization conducted
by Mr. W. T. Swingle and myself were planned in 1893 entirely on
this basis, yet the principle was in no sense of the word original with
us, but was at that time well understood by all practical breeders.
This understanding, I believe, was largely derived from the investi-
gations of Naudin, though various investigators contributed to it.
With a full understanding of the knowledge and practices of the
breeders of two decades ago, it must be admitted that the conception
of unit characters and Mendelian segregation was necessary to
clarify this knowledge and bring out the latent possibilities of the
material presented by nature for the use of the breeder, and it is
doubtful whether we even yet adequately comprehend the almost
infinite possibilities open to us.
To understand breeding today we must clearly understand the
conception of unit characters. We no longer conceive the species,
race or variety, as a fixed ensemble of characters. Following De
Vries, we now commonly conceive the species or variety to be made
up of a certain number of unit characters, that are in large measure
associated together by the accident of evolution or breeding and
which are separable entities in inheritance. We may liken these
unit characters to bricks used in the construction of a building, each
separate and yet dependent on the others for the maintenance of
the structure; as each unit character is dependent on the other unit
characters for the maintenance of the plant body. We may think
of these unit characters as organic elements similar to chemical
elements, that by their recombination through hybridization form
new compounds — new plants — of distinctly different appearance,
but which in turn do not effect the unit characters, which may again
be separated and led to form other compounds, again resulting in
distinct organisms. Related species may possess many distinct
unit characters, but ordinarily would be expected to possess many
similar unit characters. Cultivated races or varieties ordinarily
Webber: Research in Genetics 31
9
would differ only in a few unit characters, and difference in a single
unit character would be sufficient to give a distinct and recognizable
race or variety. Indeed, the difference between two varieties in a
single unit character might mean that one variety would be exceed-
ingly valuable and the other practically worthless. De Vries asserts
that unit characters are discontinuous in inheritance and do not
exhibit transitional forms. A plant cannot be hairy and at the same
time smooth, or a fruit yellow and at the same time red. While
there is yet much difference of opinion on these questions the prepon-
derance of evidence certainly favors the unit character conception.
If, then, we recognize that species are made up of unit characters
and that different species differ in the possession of different unit
characters, the great problem in the evolution of species becomes
the question of how the new unit character is acquired. Have all
unit characters existed from the beginning, or are new unit char-
acters being continuously acquired? A few years ago we supposed
that new characters if acquired in any form must be seized upon,
as it were, by natural selection and preserved, or otherwise that they
would be swamped by intercrossing and lost. We now know from
Mendelian analysis that the unit character may be apparently lost
in crossing owing to the prevailing presence of its dominant allelo-
morph, but that in reality it is not lost or apparently changed and
will reappear again when it happens that two gametes both bearing the
character meet in fecundation. It may remain hidden for many
years, but as we are now inclined to view the matter, the character
or the determiner of the character would not be permanently lost to
the species unless all individuals possessing it were killed before
they produced seed. This unit character idea would lead us to the
conception of the species as made up of all the unit characters that
it has acquired by any means in its development and which still
exist. The acquirement of any new unit character would add one
more character to the species and double the number of possible
varieties or races of the species.
In evolutionary studies we have long recognized that variation
was the foundation of evolution and that no evolution was possible
without variation, but we have assigned to selection an all important
part as guiding and even stimulating the variation in a certain
.direction. Darwin and particularly some of his more radical fol-
lowers have assigned to selection a creative force, in that it has been
assumed that when nature by a slight variation gave the hint of a
possible change in a certain direction, natural or artificial selection,
32 American Breeders Magazine
by choosing this variant and selecting from among its progeny the
most markedly similar variants, could force the advance of the varia-
tion in the direction indicated. Since Darwin's time this cumulative
action of selection has been emphasized so forcibly that we had
come to recognize selection as an active force in creation rather than
simply as a selective agency. Before selection can be accepted as a
vital principle of evolution, the selectionist must show that a new
character can be created by selection, otherwise selection becomes a
secondary principle.
When viewed from the standpoint of the production of a new
and definitely heritable unit which mendelizes, the task of selection
becomes more doubtful. Darwin's idea that changes in species
required many years and probably many centuries for accomplish-
ment took the subject largely out of the field of experimentation
and in a measure developed a speculative science. One of the great-
est contributions to science made by De Vries was to establish the
study of evolution on an experimental basis. With the demon-
stration that evolution could be studied experimentally, the question
of the effectiveness of selection was taken up, and we are now doubt-
less on the road to a solution of the problem. It is only possible
for us here to call attention to a few of the researches in this direction.
The classical researches of De Vries, now familiar to us all, chal-
lenged the correctness of the selection theory and sought to show
that species originated by sudden jumps or mutations. We may
admit that De Vries proved that species or new characters were
formed suddenly as mutations, but this would not prove that they
might not also be formed or actually induced to mutate by a contin-
uous process of selection. Indeed, in his experiments on the production
of a double-flowered variety of Chrysanthemum segetum (Mutations-
theoriej vol. i, p. 523), a few generations of selection led to markedly
increasing the number of ray-florets before the ligulate corollas
appeared among the disk-florets, the change which he interpreted
as the mutation that gave him the double variety.
Johannsen has contributed much to our knowledge of selection
and has given us a more exact method of experimentation by his
conception of pure lines, biotypes, genotypes, and phenotypes. His
experiments in the selection of pure lines of beans in an attempt to
produce large and small seeded types have led him to conclude that
selection within a pure line is ineffective in producing changes. He
did, however, secure new types from pure lines through mutations.
Tower's experiments with the potato beetle in attempting to
Webber: Research in Genetics 33
create by selection large and small races, albinic and melanic races,
and races with changed color-pattern, although conducted carefully
for from ten to twelve generations, failed to give any evidence of
producing permanently changed types. While strains of plus and
minus variates gave populations with a range of variation apparently
markedly restricted to their respective sides of the normal variation
range, still these selected strains did not greatly exceed the normal
range of variation in either direction, and when the selection was
discontinued, in two or three generations, again produced popula-
tions exhibiting the normal range of variation. Clearly no new
unit characters had been added by the selection. Tower, however,
found that by subjecting the beetles, during the process of the for-
mation of gametes, to certain abnormal conditions, he was likely
to obtain mutations in the progeny that would immediately form
the beginnings of new races.
Jennings in a series of selection experiments conducted with Para-
mecium, that were continued for over twenty generations, obtained
no evidence of a permanent modification of the type.
Pearl has conducted an extended experiment in the selection of
chickens in the attempt to produce a breed of high egg-laying capac-
ity. His results have led him to the conclusion that selection alone
has no effect in producing a permanent improvement or a change
of type.
Up to the present time these are the principal contributions to the
subject, discrediting the effectiveness of selection as an active agency.
On the opposite side of the controversy we have the very careful
and extensive researches of Castle and MacCurdy in the selection
of Irish rats to increase the black-colored dorsal band on the one
hand and to decrease or obliterate it on the other. Castle appears
to have gotten very positive results favoring the gradual cumulative
action of the selection, as he succeeded in markedly increasing the
amount of black in one strain until the rats were almost wholly
black, and in the other strain almost wholly obliterating the black.
I am not informed whether the inheritance in hybridization of these
apparently new characters has been tested. If a new character has
been added it should maintain itself and segregate after hybridization.
The experiments conducted by Dr. Smith and others at the Illinois
Experiment Station in selecting high and low strains of corn with
reference to oil and protein content have resulted in markedly dis-
tinct strains possessing these qualities, which are inherited appar-
ently as long as the selection is continued. It seems certain that
34 American Breeders Magazine
they have increased the oil and protein content much beyond the
maximum, which existed in the original race. I am informed by
Dr. Smith that these new races of high oil and high protein content
have maintained their character for several years in isolated plants
without selection and it would thus seem that a permanent heritable
change of character has been produced as a result of the selection.
The behavior of these apparently new characters in hybridization
has, however, not been tested and we thus do not yet have the com-
plete evidence of the test of the characters which is necessary to
enable us to fully analyze the results.
Very many cases of increases obtained in quantitative characters
could be cited, but the majority of the experiments were undertaken,
primarily, to obtain practical results, and whether such apparently
new characters would stand the test of unit characters is doubtful.
The improvement of the sugar beet by selection forms a typical and
instructive case of this kind. The careful selection of the sugar beet
was started over sixty years ago by Louis Vilmorin, at which time
a range of variation in sugar content of from 5 per cent to 21 per
cent was known to exist. Since that time the industry has grown
extensively until hundreds of thousands of beets are examined annu-
ally and the richest in sugar content selected for seed production.
The process of selecting the beets richest in sugar content for mothers
has now been continued for sixty years and is practiced extensively
every year and yet there is no evidence that the maximum sugar con-
tent has been increased, and it is certain that the character of richness
in sugar content has not been rendered permanently heritable, as
sugar-beet growers well know that their success depends upon the
continuance of the selection. Here it is certain that no distinct unit
character has been added by the continuous selection.
The strongest evidence as to the method of origin of new charac-
ters is derived naturally from our knowledge of known cases of the
origin of such typical new characters. When we view the evidence
critically, I think it must be admitted that in practically all, if not
all, of the cases of new characters appearing, they have come into
existence suddenly. The cut-leaved Celedonium, the Cupid sweet
pea, Bursa heegeri, the Otter sheep, the muley cow, are illustra-
tions familiar to all and doubtless each of us could add several
such illustrations from our own knowledge. Such new characters
appearing suddenly are heritable and maintain themselves as unit
characters in hybridization. We cannot but admit that the evidence
of these known cases counts against the origin of characters by
gradual cumulative selection.
Webber: Research in Genetics 35
In summarizing this part of our discussion we can only state that
at present it appears that far the greatest weight of evidence is
opposed to the origin of a new unit character through the cumulative
action of selection.
Are we, then, to conclude that the practice of breeders in con-
tinually selecting from the best for propagation is useless, and must
we advise practical breeders to discontinue their selection? How
can we do this in the light of the success of the sugar-beet breeders?
Have not Sea Island cotton growers increased and maintained the
length and fineness of their staple by continuous selection? Have
not corn growers maintained high productiveness of different strains
by selection? Are not the Jersey and Holstein maintained at a
high degree of efficiency by selection? Has not the speed of our
trotting and pacing horses been increased and maintained at a high
rate by the most careful selection? To one familiar with the his-
tory of agriculture and breeding these questions arise fast and are
likely to be insistent. There can be no doubt that the practical
breeders have made advances by selecting from the best individuals.
No genetist or scientific breeder will deny this. It is simply the
question of the interpretation of how the results were obtained that
is in doubt and whether these results can be considered as permanent
new unit characters. Before we can thoroughly understand this
subject it is probable that each individual case will require to be
carefully analyzed to determine the nature of the advance made
and the interpretation of the process or processes concerned. At
present we can only partially understand the phenomena presented.
It appears to me that we are dealing in breeding with two markedly
distinct types of selection, based on different principles and arriv-
ing at different results, both right in principle and productive of
equally valuable practical results, but of very different value when
considered from a strictly evolutionary standpoint.
It would seem that such cases of improvement as are illustrated
by the sugar beet indicate that the continuous selection, generation
after generation, of maximum fluctuations shown by a character will
result in maintaining a strain at nearly the maximum of efficiency;
and that within a pure race the progeny of a maximum variate
which would probably be classed as a fluctuation does not regress
entirely to the mean of the race in the first generation succeeding
the selection, but that we only have a certain percentage of regres-
sion similar to the regression determined by Galton. It^would
further seem to be indicated by the evidence now available that
36 American Breeders Magazine
in some cases we may even expect the continuously selected strain
to exceed the ordinary maximum of the unselected population; In
the Illinois corn experiments the maximum oil and protein content
seems clearly to have exceeded the ordinary maximum, and is cer-
tainly maintained at a very high degree with a new mode and range
of variation. If a new mutant of high protein content has been
secured in the course of the experiments with a change of type, it is
probable that this high protein content will behave as a unit charac-
ter in inheritance. On the other hand, if the results are interpreted
as simply the maintenance by isolation of a strain produced by select-
ing fluctuations, there would probably be a rapid return to the normal
range of variation of this character if the selection was discontinued.
De Vries has pointed out that natural selection can produce races
and maintain them, but its power to develop races beyond the nat-
ural range of variability remains to be demonstrated.
With reference to his experiments with the potato beetle Tower
states, "It is demonstrated that among the fluctuating variations
there are individuals which are able to transmit their particular
variation and give rise by selection to a race, while the majority are
not able to hand on their particular conditions to their progeny.
Races developed by selection from such variations have not been
carried beyond the normal limit of variability of the species." These
races or selected strains maintain themselves as long as the selection
is continued and when the selection is discontinued rapidly regress
to the mean of the species. .
The above examples from the sugar beet, corn and potato beetle
will illustrate the type of improvement usually secured by practical
breeders. By their selection they maintain a strain of high efficiency
without having in general exceeded the limits of variation of the
species or race and without having produced new unit characters
which would be maintained without selection and segregate as pure
units following hybridization.
[Continued in next number.)
DOMESTICATION OF THE FOX.
Ben. I. Ratnbr, AJberton, P. E. I., Canada
and
J. Waltbb Jones, Washington, D. C.
The silver fox rearing industry is not new to scientists. As long
ago as 1908 the Biological Survey of the United States Department
of Agriculture published a bulletin on the subject and E. Thompson
Seton in 1909 wrote of the industry in his Mammals of North America.
The silver, cross, and red foxes have been bred for five or ten years
in Ontario, Labrador, and Maine, but all these breeders secured their
stock with few exceptions on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Visitors
to Prince Edward Island, seeking information as to breeding methods,
generally secured very little information. In fact, not 2 per cent of
the 100,000 inhabitants of that beautiful and thickly settled island
knew that an exceedingly profitable industry was being prosecuted
somewhere in the woods on their neighbors' farms. Although the
industry began twenty-three years ago, no breeding stock of large
value had left the hands of the close circle of breeders who were
guarding their secret well. Only a few choice skins and a few light
silver foxes had come into the possession of those outside the "com-
bine" previous to 1910, when it broke. At the present time there
are about eighty ranches on Prince Edward Island stocked with
about two hundred fine dark silvers, about 300 silver-grays and per-
haps 400 very light silvers, crosses and reds. , The total skin value
is about $550,000 and current prices of breeding stock make them
worth at least $1,500,000 but it is safe to say that the industry could
not be purchased outright with twice that sum.
In the year 1888 one James Lamb, while hunting some strayed
cows in the woods, found two silver fox pups, a male and a female,
in a hollow log. He contrived to carry them home and swapped
them with a neighbor for a cow and a few dollars to boot. The
neighbor experimented for several years with various kinds of pens
and treatment, but he became discouraged and sold the foxes for
$80 to another neighbor, who also was no more successful than the
original finder. This second man gave over his experiment to yet
another neighbor, who lived on an island in Cascumpec Bay. The
quiet of the new place, the increasing tameness of the foxes, and the
understanding of the new keeper produced conditions that relieved
Madame Reynard's nervous apprehension for her youngs' safety and
three pups were reared to maturity in two seasons. This success,
37
38 American Breeders Magazine
the result of eight years of experimentation, gave a strong impulse
to the industry, which began in earnest About six men possessed
a knowledge of the fine art of rearing foxes in captivity and jealously
and successfully guarded their secret until 1910. Up to that time
no live foxes were sold, except some light silvers to distant places.
Thb Silver Fox.
domestic animal. Who will achieve the domestication of the Russian "Gable?"
The surplus stock were killed and the pelts marketed in London.
In 1901 a dark silver pelt brought £580 (S2825) at a London auction,
and last year (1910) prices of £540 and £480 were obtained. These
are the highest prices ever paid for the pelts of any kind of animal.
Rayner, Jones: Domestication of the Fox 39
The common red fox — Vvlpes fitivus — is usually red in color, but
redness is not a distinguishing mark of the species. The other color
is black, or silver-black, when only a near-by examination reveals
the presence of light hairs, excepting on the tip of the tail. The
light hairs are black at the base and tip but have a silver portion not
far from the outer end. Between the two color extremes there are
found animals presenting every gradation of color between red and
black. The animals are grouped in markets as red fox, cross fox,
light silver fox, and dark silver fox. A black fox, socalled when alive,
is classified as dark silver.
In nature, where indiscriminate crossing of the colors takes place,
foxes occur in about the following proportions and pelts are bought
from the trapper or breeder at approximately the following prices:
Red 100,000, value $5 each; cross 10,000, value $15 each; light silver
1000, value $2 each; dark silver 100, value $1000 each. The price
is in inverse ratio to the number produced. But while scarcity may
influence the price of dark silvers, there is no question of the great
intrinsic value of their pelts. They are marvels of richness and beauty
and even if produced in as great numbers as the red ones, they would
be many times more valuable. The price of the dark silver fox has
always been high because that fur has always been popular with
royalty and thus a constant demand existed. The enormous decrease
in costly furs and the vastly increased numbers of people demanding
them have brought about a situation very encouraging to the domes-
tication of many animals with valuable fur because of the great
profits.
The Siberian marten, called "Russian sable" in the trade, is now
nearly as valuable as dark silver fox. A sable coat worn at the recent
Horse Show in New York cost $22,000. A set of natural black fox
worn at the same place, consisting of not more than three skins, cost
the owner $16,000. Unless immediate steps are taken to increase
the number of foxes, Siberian and other martens, otter, beaver and
mink and some other valuable fur animals which promise to be cap-
able of being domesticated, none but the extremely wealthy will
be able to buy furs. The fact that the silver fox has been success-
fully domesticated by the efforts of a few men, without any encour-
agement from government, and with no financial backing except
meager incomes from farming and trapping, should inspire extensive
governmental experiments to determine the feasibility of extending
the number of domestic animals to those which produce fur. The
production of costly fur, henceforth, is a problem for the animal
40 American Breeders Magazine
husbandman. Doubtless the day will soon come when books of pedi-
greed records of foxes, martens, otters, and minks will be published.
When choosing a farm for purposes of breeding foxes three princi-
pal considerations— soil, climate, and location — must be kept in mind.
A limestone or alkaline soil will decrease the value of the fur by making
it harsh and brittle. A cold climate is a necessity in the production
of high-class fur. The fox pens must be secluded from the intrusion,
The Utter or Fivb i'oira PHODdccD in Tins Pen in 1911 Sold fob 114,000.
or even the observation, of strange men and animals, and a forest
covering, preferably of spruce, fir, pine, or cedar, is very desirable.
The best breeders enclose from three to five acres with a 2-inch
mesh wire fence 8 feet high. The wire is buried about 3 feet into the
ground to prevent burrowing under and it is turned in at right angles
for 2 feet at the top to prevent climbing out. No. 14 gauge, galvan-
ized, wire is used in the ground and No. 16 gauge at the top. The gate
in this outside fence is kept constantly locked and often the keeper,
who sleeps in his little cottage close by, maintains watch dogs and
bloodhounds. Inside the five-acre enclosure and for the most part
not visible from the outer fence are placed the pens. The fences
Rayner, Jones: Domestication of the Fox 41
about them are similar to those described above, but built with a
little more care. Meshed wire is sold in 150-foot lengths and one
roll is used to enclose a pen, which therefore is about 37 feet square.
The fox house, or kennel, has been in the past built like an ordinary
dog kennel with a crooked spout for an entrance. The crook excludes
the light and the spout resembles a burrow sufficiently to cause the
fox to accept the man-made wooden substitute in lieu of her own
"home-made" den. But more advanced husbandmen have devised
better housing facilities. The best of these, probably, is the invention
of B. I. Rayner, of Alberton, one of the pioneer breeders and on whose
father's farm the original foxes were caught. His house is 8 by 10
feet, with a pitch roof and provided with ventilation. It is double-
boarded and papered. A passageway extends through to admit the
keeper. Four fox apartments — one for each pen — are constructed,
one in each corner 'of the house. Each of these apartments leads
through a spout or burrow to the pen, or paddock, outside. Each
apartment has two rooms, — a cleaning room and a nest which is care-
fully lined with seaweed. Ventilation over these is provided, and
provision is made for allowing the owner a sly peep into the nest
while the mother is outside getting her meal. Such a house is always
built strongly in order to resist the possible attempts of sneak thieves
to enter. When strangers are about, foxes are nowhere else but in
their nests.
In any well-settled country there is enough cheap food to provide
for hundreds of foxes. A healthy old horse or cow, livers, heads,
feet and other butchers' refuse, calves, fish, bread, milk, eggs, rabbits
and even poultry — all provide the best of fox food. A nursing mother
fox gets a goodly share of eggs, milk, and porridge. As a whole,
in a province like Prince Edward Island, settled with fifty people
to the square mile, it costs two or three cents per fox, per day, to feed
them. Some of the ranches have great numbers of rabbits inside the
outer fence which give the foxes a chase and familiar food frequently.
The problem of breeding for quality has been well worked out,
When good dark silvers are once secured they always produce dark
silver pups. It may prove that black is the recessive color, — breed-
ing true when secured. It is said by trappers that sometimes crosses
and silvers have been found in red fox dens. If so, the proportion
of reds and silvers are near enough to indicate that the red color is
dominant and the black recessive. But as far as Prince Edward
Island experience goes only blendings of the two colors is produced
by any mating and every blend breeds true to its own color.
42 American- Bkeedkhs Magazine
Numerous attempts have been made to introduce silver stock from
Labrador and Newfoundland. Though in every case size and strength
were secured, quality of fur was lost. No high-priced pelt has resulted
from such mating. Many cross bred foxes were imported from the
Western States with the object of securing size and eventually breed-
ing up to a dark silver strain from cheap stock. Descendants of
these are on various ranches today, but not in those of experienced
breeders.
The ranchers working with the best success have only descendants
of the stock originally caught on Prince Edward Island. All high-
priced pelts came off foxes of this strain. If an ordinary red fox of
Prince Edward Island is bred to a black, and the resulting young is
bred to a black, and thus for four or five generations, a good silver
fox results. The first cross produces what is designated as a " cross"
or "patched" fox. The next mating produces a cross of a better
quality with almost no reddish tinge in any hair and silver patches
over the back, the third mating produces a light silver worth prob-
ably five hundred dollars, and a fourth mating produced a silver
worth probably one thousand dollars. Many farmers of small means
thus breed up their stock by the use of only one high-priced animal
Foxes have been kept as pets and in zoological gardens from time
immemorial but they have Dever been known to rear young. The
reason of this seems to be the extreme nervousness of the female,
Rayner, Jones: Domestication of the Fox 43
She has been known to carry her young about in her mouth for days,
putting them now in one place, then carrying them to another, until
they succumbed to exposure and handling. Keepers have had to
stay by the pens day and night for several days at a time to keep
watch on the mother. An instance of the behavior of a certain
mother fox on an Ontario ranch is related as typical of what a slight
incident may cause trouble. A ranch owner whose home was within
sight of his fox pen was having his house painted. When the painter
began to put the new color on the house, either the sight of the
stranger or [the smell of the paint so excited the mother that she
brought out' her young and Jailed them. They are so wild that
ranchers make a habit of closing up the ranches in January to all
except the keepers, and keeping the ranches closed until June, when
the young are out playing about. Only keepers may approach the
pens during the breeding season and it is declared by some of them
to be risky even to change clothes lest the change worry the fox.
The male, which is monogamous in the wild state, forages for the
young. But when food is provided two parents would probably kill
the young with overattention. Therefore, the male is removed about
the middle of March. The period of gestation is fifty-one days
exactly. The young arrive in March, April or early May. Litters of
from one to as many as eight are recorded but the average is usually
about four pups. One mother fox has reared eighteen young in three
years and a price of $8000 was refused for her. They are fertile nine
or ten years. They are mature in eight months for fur or breeding.
Some breeders have been able to mate one male with two agreeable
females, such as sisters, and the custom appears to be growing. Thus
selection of sires can be made and quicker improvement in quality
achieved, if indeed improvement be possible.
During their productive period of about nine years one pair of
foxes will produce on an average about thirty young. If these are
of the best stock, the pelts are worth fifteen hundred dollars each
at the present market prices. Thus the yearly profits from a pair
is about $5,000. But certainly every joint-stock company that
forms and hires a manager cannot expect to secure such results.
Efficient managers are very hard to find and the best management
will not prevent occasional escapes and thefts. The industry is best
prosecuted as a regular part of the work on a diversified farm where
waste food materials, quiet, and the personal interest of the owner
will go farther towards insuring success than any skilled management
capital can purchase. The business could be very profitably prose-
44 American Breeders Magazine
cuted by neighbors who could unite in the feeding, care, protection
of the stock from thieves, and hunting and trapping of escaped ani-
mals. Joint stock companies with a total capitalization of over a
million are now incorporated for fur farming in Eastern Canada and
the result of applying capital to a farming industry of this kind is
being watched with great interest. The result at this date has
been to raise the price of foxes from $1,500 or $2,000 — the actual
fur value of good dark silvers — to $3,000 and even $4,000 for the
pups of 1912. The quantity of foxes being limited to a small increase
each year, there ought to be no danger of a "rush" or boom. At
any rate, the prices are not yet high enough to prevent considerable
profits, eliminating, of course, the risk of theft and escape from the
argument.
The profits of this form of wild animal breeding was stated by an
experienced breeder in another way, thus: "It is more profitable for
an experienced breeder to rear red foxes at $5 a pelt than to rear
sheep, getting $5 for each lamb and 20 cents a pound for wool."
The fur is taken the last week of December. It is usually sold
at the March sales in London, to which city it is sent by mail, insured.
After the sale, the skins mostly go to Germany for manufacture.
Many of the furs become the property of royalty, particularly those
of Russia and Austria. A gorgeous effect is produced in some cases
by putting gold, by electrolytic methods, on the hair tips, — black
fox being the only fur that retains it.
The immense profits of the industry are a considerable induce-
ment to farmers to enter into the business, and a question which
naturally rises is as to when and where the break in price will occur.
With growing wealth and love of luxury the day is far distant when
the demand will decrease or the prices fall. There is a basis for a
huge industry in production of furs. Between two and three hundred
million dollars is the price the "consumer" annually pays for Ameri-
can reared fur alone. It may be argued that silver fox is only for
the wealthy, but so is the whole diamond industry. The Cullinan
diamond, now being cut and polished in Amsterdam for Britain's
King, will have an actual commercial value of $2,500,000 when finished
and its unique character will make it priceless.
And when estimates of increase in numbers of foxes are made it
must not be assumed that all ranchers will be successful and produce
the natural yearly increase of 300 per cent. Probably 200 per cent
increase is nearer the actual results to be obtained. Thus there will
be 4000 silver foxes in 1915. Even if every one of these were marketed
Marshall: Thb^Standard Bred 45
in the same year, so small a number would only stimulate prices by
attracting more buyers to the auction. And finally, even granting
that the price of dark, silver pelts shall in twenty years' time have
dropped to $100 each, there is at that price more profit in the industry
than any of the fox ranchers could possibly make in other stock-
breeding lines.
With such prospects, why is the domestication of other valuable
fur bearers delayed? Why are the woods being depleted of our hand-
some wild animals by such a cruel method as trapping? Why are
not trappers converted into animal husbandmen?
EVOLUTION OF THE STANDARD BRED
F. R. Marshall
Columbus, Ohio
The Standard Bred or American Trotting Horse is the most notable
success of American effort in the field of breeding. The breeding
and racing of trotters is a national sport and for many years past
has engaged the closest study of some of the most capable Americans.
We have other native breeds of note, but none that is anything like
so generally distributed through the various states as is the trotting
bred horse. All professions and all kinds of business include men
who give much of their thought to the breeding and raising of a few
colts each season. What such men do for pleasure and for recreation
is usually done quite thoroughly. Accomplishment in breeding comes
through careful study and the exercise of common sense and the
ability to execute what the judgment dictates. Such men as have
been referred to have usually given their horses the same study and
good judgment that had been exercised in the development of their
commercial interests. Their wealth has enabled them to carry their
ideas into practice in a way that has seldom before occurred in the
history of any breed. The result has been the combination of the
best qualities of the various strains and families from which the breed
in its present status has sprung. Men of more modest means have
often accomplished with their brains what money alone could not
do, but a surprisingly large proportion of the stronger breeding strains
have arisen in the studs of men, characteristically American, in busi-
ness lines and in the field of sport.
Standard-bred horses vary in color, size, shape, and way~of A going.
Some writers argue that because of this admitted fact these horses
46 American Breeders Magazine
cannot be properly designated as a breed. The test of breed status
is uniformity in the characteristics by which the animals are dis-
tinguishedjrom^others of their kind, and in their ability to answer
the purpose for which they are bred. Percherons are bred for draft
work, and lack the uniformity of a breed if considered from any other
standpoint. Some saddle bred horses have speed, but the American
saddle horse is a breed only when considered as adapted to use under
saddle. Judged by color or conformation, the standard bred horse
does lack uniformity. But his distinguishing trait and the reason for
his existence is speed at the trotting gait. When considered on this
basis, there can be no room for argument as to his fixity of type. The
50,000 stallions that have been recorded in the last thirty-five years
include some foaled as early as 1840. Necessarily many of these
stallions never received for themselves or for their get the oppor-
tunity to demonstrate their speed qualities. The total number of
horses registered in the American Trotting Register up to date is
something over 200,000. Of the mares included in this number, a
considerable proportion have never had a fair opportunity to enter
the 2:30 list. Yet the list of 2:30 trotters and 2:35 pacers at the
present time includes over 46,000 horses and in 1910 there were
entered 1661 trotters and 1983 pacers. At the close of 1910, 1367
trotters and pacers had records below 2:10. What other breed can
show as large a proportion of its registrations having as high a degree
of demonstrated merit? Nor is the criticism as to lack of uniformity
in appearance well founded. A discriminating eye will find as high a
degree of uniformity in the points of conformation that contribute
to speed as is to be found in the essential features of any other breed.
Readers of the American Breeders Magazine are familiar with the
history of our national horse. The purpose of this article is to use
the trotters' history to show what may be the true r61e of selection
in breed improvement. It used to be considered that successive
crossings of superior sires effected a continuous advance of the progeny
toward the qualities of the stock from which the sires came. We can-
not yet discard this idea in considering the grading up of nondescript
animals by the use of well-bred sires. But it is in the effort to explain
the production of new types within breeds that the greatest diffi-
culty is met. Those whose thoughts are chiefly of practical breeding
hold to the idea of cumulative selection though they have to admit
that the advance is much more marked at some times than at others.
Persons less well acquainted with the history of breeds and alive to
the significance of the developments of the last ten years are often
Makshall: The Stand akd Bked 47
skeptical as to cumulative selection and explain improvement as the
result of fortuitous combinations of characters, which also are much
more likely to appear under some conditions than under others.
This latter school would regard the epoch-making animals of the past
and present as mutations. If that word is to be used, however, we
can discard the thought that such animals really possess any character
not previously found. They represent happy combinations of the
good qualities of numerous ancestors, all combined in one package
by the possibilities in reduction and combination of gametes. Such
an animal may exhibit a particular character in a new degree by
having received it in full strength through both parents. In this
sense selection does permit an accumulative effect though it origi-
nates nothing. Such effect is not certain from any particular mating
but is most likely to occur when the desired tendencies are present in
both parental lines.
Professor Harper's figures showed that high producing cows come
chiefly from high yielding strains and fast trotters occur most fre-
quently among the offspring of fast parents because there is an
enhanced probability of accentuating existing tendencies or of unit-
ing facilities of speed not previously united in a single animal.
All the qualities that make up our fast horses were in existence
even before 1788, the beginning of the era of Messenger. These
qualities were widely scattered, however, and it has been the work
of those doing the selecting to combine the elements that go to make
up trotting speed and thus to secure horses having a greater pro-
clivity to trot than was possessed by any single one of their various
ancestors. Nothing was originated unless we think of a new com-
bination of qualities as coming under that term.
To attempt to determine the ultimate source of the numerous
peculiarities that facilitate speed at the trot, would lead into the
earliest forms of the species and be much more a study for the evolu-
tionist than for the breeder. I have referred to the component parts
of trotting speed. No scientific or practical good can come from con-
sidering the ability to trot in record time as a single, separate or unit
character. It is impossible to completely analyze speed, but the least
experienced follower of the trotting game readily recognizes that speed
is possible only in the presence of a combination of a large number
of separate qualities or characters. While no data is at hand to
support this, it is possible and highly probable that each one of
these contributing factors is inherited in Mendelian fashion, but until
these factors are reduced to unit characters their transmission cannot
be studied with any approach to exactness.
48 American Breeders Magazine
One of the main features in trotting speed is driving power. The
efficiency of driving power depends upon the proportions of the body
and of the limbs and the muscular developement. These determine
the smoothness of the working of the machine, and the proportion
of the power that contributes to the forward motion. Then there
are differences in elasticity and capacity of muscles to withstand
the tiring effects of extreme exertion. Defects of conformation, includ-
ing muscling or proportion, eliminate some and limit many. "They
go all shapes" but in spite of them, and when an ill-shapen one is
really fast it is usually by virtue of unusual mentality. In a much
larger degree than is commonly supposed, speed comes from the brain.
Some horses cease trying to win when they lose the lead, while others
fight through the stretch to the wire with all the courage and deter-
mination of the best athlete. Others with wonderful speed lack the
balance and control and steadiness necessary to keep them at their
gait. The main reason why the trotter is more popular than the
running horse is that he must try to win and yet have mentality
enough to resist the temptation to run. Troubles in feet and limbs
and joints hamper many that are otherwise fitted to go fast, and
soundness and wearing quality in these respects are vital elements of
trotting speed.
In considering the r61e of selection in the evolution of the trotter,
we will not be far astray if we consider the sources and development
of his peculiarities of conformation, his mentality, the wearing quali-
ties of joints and tendons, and chiefly his disposition to go at the trot
in preference to any other gait. It has been the work of the breeders
to combine these components of trotting speed in one animal and then
to breed so as to secure horses strong enough in their inheritance of those
qualities as to be similarly strong in the transmission of them. The
work of combining inheritance of symmetry and refinement and reduc-
ing the dross of native equine stock had been notably well done in
the home of the Arabian. The existence of the Arabs depended upon
their horses and centuries of selection resulted in an animal having
a combination of characters that portrayed the ideals of his breeders.
In beauty, stamina, and structure of limb and joint the Arabian
horse has been the pattern for all subsequent types. With English
breeders he was deficient in size and he had been bred for a long-
distance running rather than f 01 track racing. The union of Arabian
blood with that of the best English horses gave some animals more
useful to the English breeder than the best representatives of either
of the parent stocks. In time the same results might have come
Marshall: The Standard Bred 49
from selection within pure Arab lines but the stock was scarce and
its type too firmly fixed to be readily modified. On the other hand,
England would have had a great running horse even without Eastern
blood but such a performance as that of Eclipse in 1769 would have
come at a much later date.
In the first crossings of the English and imported horses there were
doubtless many that combined the undesirable features of both lines
and in only a few instances did the then unknown germ cells bring
into combination a preponderance of the best from both lines. Nor
were performance and appearance sufficient to show which were the
most valuable animals. Then, as now, the breeding test was supreme
and some individuals of note left poorer offspring than others more
obscure but really superior or else more fortunately mated. The final
result of English effort was the thoroughbred.
The relation of the American trotter to the thoroughbred is anal-
ogous to the relationship between the thoroughbred and the Arabian.
The horse stock of America was strongly charged with qualities
received from the thoroughbred before there was any distinct effort
to breed a roadster. The animal desired for road driving needed
all the stamina and points of conformation and structure of limbs
and joints that characterized the thoroughbred. Some thoroughbreds
were very useful in harness, but as trotting races became more common
it was apparent that the ungovernable propensity to run that was the
making of this horse under saddle was his undoing when in harness.
The founders of the trotting breed of trotters have not needed to
develop a number of new qualities. Their chief work has been to
take propensity to trot wherever it could be found, to accentuate it
and combine it with the common points of equine excellence.
Just what enters into the propensity to trot is not clear. It is pos-
sible though unlikely that it is a single and separate inherited feature.
There is no uniform difference between trotters and runners in body
proportion or in the proportionate lengths of forearms and cannons.
When we see yearlings and two-year-olds from certain families that
make the most extreme efforts to win and yet never leave the trotting
gait we must recognize the part played by the mental make-up of
the trotters, and as yet mental features cannot be analyzed or easily
followed in transmission.
By 1800 it was apparent that the get of the imported thorough-
bred Messenger was especially good at the trot. Mares of other
strains were mated to him and some of the get that inherited the trot-
50 American Breeders Magazine
ting propensity in its full strength from both parents, if their other
characters permitted, were much better trotters than either of their
parents. Thus, selection, while it does not originate anything, does
accentuate minor tendencies or originate new degrees of tendencies
or propensities. Selection when pursued in the light of careful study
of individuality and ancestry seems to keep together in a single
individual the desirable features of the best animals and also to add
thereto such qualities from other sources as may serve to make higher
degrees of excellence. Of course many of the animals bred will be
no improvement upon their parents and sometimes the reverse. But
where there is any harmony of mating, some chance combinations
of good are bound to occur if the breeder is qualified to recognize
them and they may be brought together, their produce similarly
used, the misfits eliminated, and the type finally fixed.
Imported Messenger was not the only source of distinctive trotting
qualities. Norfolk County breeders had long prized good driving
horses and from thence came Bellfounder, thirty-four years after the
landing of Messenger. A stallion strong in the blood of Messenger
bred to a daughter of Bellfounder produced Rysdyk's Hambletonian,
the first great sire of trotting speed and a progenitor of the large
majority of living trotters. Hambletonian's second dam was a double
granddaughter of Messenger. This or similar matings may have
produced other horses able to transmit trotting qualities as did Ham-
bletonian 10. If such were produced, they were never discovered.
No other horse has ever meant so much to the trotters of his time as did
Hambletonian 10 to the trotters of the third quarter of last century.
He possessed nothing new unless we consider a new combination
of previously scattered peculiarities of conformation and mentality
as a creation. If he is to be considered as a mutation, then Henry
Clay, sprung from the Arabian line, must have been the same,
because Hambletonian's son George Wilkes from a daughter of Henry
Clay was remarkable as an individual and as a breeder. If we. adapt
Mendelian terms, this result could not have occurred in the first
generation unless George Wilkes' dam was a hybrid, and therefore
able to transmit the trotting qualities.
Mr. Henry F. Euren has suggested an explantion of the greatness
of Hambletonian 10 on the basis of the fact that both Messenger and
Bellfounder trace to Blaze of 1733 to 1756. These are his words:
The fact that in the seventh generation from Blaze, on each side, the
reunion of the blood in Rysdyk's Hambletonian, the sire of so many fast Ameri-
Marshall: The Standard Bred 51
can trotting horses, should have proved to have been of the most impressive
character, would appear to warrant the conclusion that there was a strong
latent trotting tendency in the ancestors of one, if not on both sides of Blaze.
In 1887 Mr. J. H. Wallace wrote:
The foreign horse that played the most important part in orginating the
American trotting breed, and that figures in the ancestry of our greatest sires
and performers, was Imported Messenger. Ever since trotting speed first
began to be considered a mark of merit in the American horse, ever since trot-
ting blood was talked of, the blood of this horse, Messenger, has been unani-
mously considered the chief foundation stone on which the greatest trotting
families have been built. Just as the English race-horse was founded on
oriental blood, and in years of selection and development for a special purpose
was bred to a point of excellence unknown to the oriental, so-the most unpre-
tentious trotting blood of today is superior to what the direct blood of Messenger
was. It is with writers on horse-breeding a very common but very erroneous
thing to inculcate the idea that because some family of horses originated in a
famous ancestor he was necessarily superior to his descendants of the present
day. They forget that in forming a breed we rise superior to as we go away
from the beginning. A stream meandering from a mountain spring may be
the source of a great river; but if we follow that stream we find it joined by
tributary after tributary until the aggregated whole is a mighty volume com-
pared with which the source is insignificant. So the speed-transmitting power
of Messenger, if it could be now drawn upon directly, would be a weak and
sluggish element in the swift and intense speed currents of today. Still, none
the less did it play its part as an original source.
Mr. Wallace's analogy can be regarded as a true one only when
we think of the breed as a whole. The breeder deals with individuals
and repeated matings of the same parents often give a wide variety
of results. The combination of characters necessary to 2:30 speed
is such a common one that there are now strains strong enough in
their inheritance of those qualities to make the production of a 2:30
horse a practical certainty. As yet, the requisites of 2:10 speed are
not regularly inherited together though some strains produce a sur-
prising proportion of horses of that class.
Mr. Hamlin was peculiarly successful in breeding 2:10 speed and
was able at the same time to combine with it size and style. Possibly
fortune favored him, but his announcement at the beginning of his
work that he would produce the then known 2:10 horse makes it
seem that he must have had a remarkable insight that enabled him
to bring from various sources the qualities he sought and unite them
in the foals of Village Farm.
A METHOD OF RECORDING TYPES AND VARIA-
TION IN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES BY
DIRECT PRINTING
O. G. Malde • •
Madison, Wis.
A special printing method has been employed with success in keep-
ing records of cranberries in connection with nursery work at the
Wisconsin State Cranberry Experimental Sub-Station, located at
Grand Rapids, Wisconsin. Propagation by selection is carried on
with about one hundred and sixty beds started from single cuttings
of cranberry vines which were originally found on a few bogs and in
wild marshes and which produced some exceptionally fine fruit. From
the very choicest of these, seeds have also been planted and about
thirty-five new varieties have thus been established. The recording
or scoring is done on a basis of 10 for twelve characters or qualities,
as follows: size, form, color, gloss, uniformity, keeping quality, firm-
ness, flavor, productiveness, vigor of vine, time of flowering, season
(early or late).
The first two characters on this score card it will be readily seen
would require several measurements and considerable description.
Size and form were first recorded by taking the measurements of three
diameters of the berry. These however proved to be of little value
for later reference, especially when it was necessary for the work to
be continued by one not thoroughly familiar with the original method
of taking the measurements.
Another character needing recording was that of the thickness of
flesh of different varieties, and the writer therefore, in the winter
of 1907, tried numerous experiments in bisecting large berries, stamp-
ing them on a well saturated inking pad in the same way that a rubber
stamp would be used, and then printing directly on cards or in the
record book. The method was found so satisfactory that it has been
adopted for the record books and also in making up card indexes.
Fig. 1 shows prints of the three main types of cranberries, namely,
the round or "cherry," the oval or olive ("Jumbo"), and the long or
" Bugle. "
The main types each have two sub-types, one being tapering at
the stem end and large at the blossom end, or bell shaped (this is
in fact the prevailing or dominant sub-type); the other sub-type,
but not nearly as common as the bell, is the one large at the stem end
and tapering at the blossom end, or appearing as an inverted bell.
52
Mauds: Recording Types bt Printing
o"), and the long or "Bugle,"
Rows 3 and *.— Six sub-types, two for each mala type; the first tapering at the stem end and large
Bt blossom end, called "Bell." True is the most common sub-type. The seoond sub-type 1» large at
the atom ondand pointed at the blossom end, Lka in Inverted "Bell." It Is described aj a pointed
berry, and to not common. The second sub-type of the "Bugle" la rather rare, as nearly all of the
■ub-typea Unci toward the -Boll."
54
American Breeders Magazine
Fig. 2.
The "Pick-up."
A substitute for a
pair of tweezers (full
size). This permits
one to use some pres-
sure In printing.
The main method of bisecting to illustrate general form is by cutting
longitudinally, while to show the general arrangement of the cells
the berry is cut transversely at its largest diameter.
Immediately after the fruit is cut it is placed on
the ink pad and pressed down gently so all of the
cut surface will become inked. Then it is picked
up with a substitute for a tweezers which consist of
a No. 2 cork (fig. 2) with two pins extending about
J inch through and with the points about i inch
apart. The advantage of using the cork is that
it permits applying pressure in making the print.
In using the printing method with the cranberries
all longitudinal prints are made with the stem* end
up. As the seeds easily shake loose when the berry
is ripe there seldom is print of seeds, except where
mature but unripe berries are used.
Fig. 3 illustrates the same method used with
ripe imported tomatoes purchased on the market,
and shows how well the thickness of flesh can be
illustrated by this direct printing, and also shows
how the seed mass in the ripe tomato has receded
from the sides. Comparing two varieties not fully ripe and just
removed from the plants in the greenhouse, one can readily see (as
in fig. 4 of the " Comet ") how well the
thickness of flesh in the two is illustrated.
In comparing these with fig. 3, one can see
how the seed mass in the unripe tomato
clings to the sides.
Fig. 5 illustrates the arrangement and
size of stalks of celery.
Further tests with green peppers, carrots,
onions (fig. 6), string and wax beans, apples,
and pears have proved quite conclusively
that this method can be used to much ad-
vantage in recording quickly characteristics
and variations in types in connection with
card indexing progress and results in various ^_ n T
. r . Fig. 3. Longitudinal and
plant breeding experiments. cboss sections op ripe tomato
Such preliminary tests as have been made (import)-
, . . . . ,, , , Purchased on the local mar-
show that this printing method may be used ket. Notice thickness of flesh
also in copying cross sections of branches, f nd the "^ ma *» 00 2 t, ? ote *
„ „ , , ... , , from outside walls. Reduced
or of galls and other injuries on branches, one-half.
Maldh: Recording Types bt Printing 55
Cross section of bulbs can be secured as can also stalks, buds, seed
pods of simple-stemmed plants of the lily family, or the water hem-
lock, etc.
Some practice is necessary in securing the best results and the fol-
lowing points should be borne in mind when this form of copying
is to be practiced:
(1) Have inking pad well saturated with reg-
ular stamping ink, red or black. Two pads are
to be recommended in order that one may be
freshly inked while the other is in use. There
is considerable difference in the amount of ink re-
quired for different objects.
fio.i.-chobb me- (2) Medium weight cards with a smooth but
tioh of "Comet" to- no t too heavily calendered, slightly absorptive
"*?? j, ._, surface, give best results. Straw colored semi-
Uuripe and fresh from ' 6
viae. NotethiokneMof gloss cards of medium weight are also satisfactory,
flash and the oiingim of Cards are found best as they do not warp with
slight moisture.
(3) Bisecting should always be done with a thin but rigid knife.
Well worn case knives have given good results. Mounted Gillette
safety razor blades are exceptionally well adapted to bisecting cran-
berries and other small fruit.
An ordinary thick-backed razor
is not suitable.
(4) Mature fruits or vege-
tables give best results when
fresh and not quite ripe.
(5) Very juicy fruit should
first be stamped on a smooth
blotting paper or left on it for a
short time, but not long enough
for the edges to contract.
(6) It is necessary to work
rapidly when bisecting and ink-
Fio. 8.— Cbo» sbctiok or ciujibi Plant. ing the material to be printed in
AnangsmBnt of Mama. order that none of the objects
shall be left long on the inking pad, for if left too long on the pad
they become very moist and must be stamped on the blotting paper
before making a print on the card.
(7) In the case of a large and hard object such as an apple, it is
necessary after placing it on the card to pass the fingers gently over
56 Ambwcan Bbebdebs Magazine
the under side of the card to secure perfect contact with the printing
surface.
There are only a few of the fruits whose juices would sufficiently
color the card to give a satisfactory print and for that reason chiefly
it is desirable to use the ink. One could no doubt satisfactorily
print a red beet, however, without the use of ink, as fairly good prints
have been secured of cranberries by means of their own juice alone.
The chief difficulty is that the juice has a tendency to spread and this
is avoided by the use of the viscid stamping ink.
EDITORIALS
CIRCUIT BREEDING
Conditions existing upon the islands of Jersey and Guernsey'and
in the counties of Hereford and Lincoln in England are examples
of the many advantages arising from the creation of a valuable new
breed of. domestic animals. The entire community is benefited
by having superior animals for their own use, thus increasing the
value of the products of their farms. Those who carry on the busi-
ness of producing pedigreed breeding stock for sale outside the com-
munity make satisfactory profits from the high prices which breeders
and farmers are willing to pay for superior pedigreed animals. The
public at large are benefited by being able to secure animals of a
new breed which adds value to their herds and farms.
Our own and other countries have long been lulled to sleep by
the magic word "imported." We have rather assumed that only
in England and western Europe could there be created new breeds
of animals. Our own market for pedigreed animals is the largest
and vastly the best in the world. Yet we threw the cream of it
into the hands of the British breeders. They found that fat and
the finish made by good keeping so caught the eye of the American
breeder that even breeding horses of the draft breeds were often
sold on a basis of weight. Horses with forms beautifully rounded
and fashioned by fat brought prices all out of proportion to their
values as parents of long4ived, tough, clean-limbed, sound-footed
horses having, in their turn, genetic power to produce drafters full
of years, crowded with days of work. The importer's standards
have been too narrowly those of the farmers to whom he was to sell
breeding animals, and. the farmer accepted as standards too often
those over-fatted meat or breeding animals which brought the highest
prices in the sales ring or won the highest award in the show ring.
The time has come when Americans should discontinue the rather
unoriginal device of importing European pedigreed stock. Few
breeding animals should be imported and those few should be the
exceptional mutations, and chosen with the greatest care and scien-
tific skill, primarily to serve as foundation stock in the production
of superior sub-breeds and breeds of our own.
There has been accumulated in the work of animal breeding,
plant breeding, and genetics a sufficient body of scientific fact, phil-
osophy, and method to serve as a basis for the construction of broad
plans for the rapid and profound improvement of American domestic
57
58 American Breeders Magazine
*
animals. Many excellent foundation stocks of nearly all the species
of domestic animals to be found in the world are already assembled
in American herds and flocks. The blood of some of our wild species
may prove valuable and our resources and possible profits are such
as to warrant the importation of such stocks of domestic and wild
species, wherever found in the world, as may promise to serve our
purposes.
Plan of Cooperative Circuit Breeding. — Through its committee on
Cooperative Breeding of Animals, the American Breeders Association
has made a study of plans for better unity, science, and practice
in the production of improved forms of our domestic animals. This
investigation resulted in plans which have been put into operation
by the United States Department of Agriculture and several experi-
ment stations, under the name of Cooperative Circuit Breeding.
These plans were so wrought out as to utilize to the greatest advan-
tage the best practice of those who have created the existing breeds
of animals and the similar but more highly perfected practice of
those who produce new varieties of plants. These plans though
scientific are simple, straightforward, and look to important results
in the early development of families, sub-breeds, or even breeds
which yield increased service and profits per head or per herd and
flock; plans which are directed toward securing those combinations
of characters which best serve in the production of the one or more
specific purposes for which the breed is designed. They are designed
to find the blood of those mutants whose blood when rather
narrowly bred will give herds or flocks of high average excellence,
and when used in upgrading herds of common or mixed breeding
will be potent in rapidly improving them.
The plan of cooperative circuit breeding provides public funds
for the scientific direction of such parts of the work of a group of
twenty or more cooperating breeders, as recording the individual
and genetic value of each animal, assisting the breeders in the methods
of uniform care, and the mating of the animals. The cooperating
breeders, in return for the scientific assistance rendered, serve the-
public under contracts to continue for a specified period in their
efforts to secure the best foundation animals of the breed or breeds
chosen to be improved, and annually to retain and so breed those
which have the best individual and genetic records as to build up
gradually a family, a sub-breed, or perhaps even a breed of the high-
est value to the public at large. Circuit breeding under public
auspices takes the plans of our greatest breeders, improves upon
Editorials 59
«
them, broadens out more widely the basis of the number of animals
used, and seeks thoroughly for superior and mutating foundation
stocks; it combines art and scientific records of performance in select-
ing and mating animals, discards more rigidly all but the very best,
and avoids the loss which comes from the dispersion of a herd conse-
quent upon the death of a successful breeder. These plans recognize
the superlative importance, once a superior breed or family has
been created, of having a permanent source of supply of breeding
animals of the improved type, and that this source of supply be
continued under scientific management; also that a permanent sup-
ply of large numbers of highly efficient breeding animals be con-
tinuously available to breeders outside the circuit, in the same
state or in other states.
Organization of a Breeding Circuit. — Ten to twenty breeders
form a cooperative circuit breeding association, the farms of these
breeders being located preferably in the same county, or at least
in adjoining counties with not too great distances between the farms.
The State Experiment Station and the United States Department
of Agriculture join in this cooperation. The association, the station,
and the department each choose a person to act as member of a
"circuit council." The cooperating breeders purchase and own
the animals. The two public institutions furnish the money to
pay the salary and expenses of a circuit superintendent, including
the cost of record books, materials and apparatus for making tests,
as well as traveling expenses. The breeders individually and collect-
ively contract with the council that each will own and breed a herd
of animals of a breed and quality approved by the council. They
further agree that each year the council shall separate each herd
into two classes. The best individuals are to be placed in a reserved
class which cannot be sold except to other members of the circuit,
so that they will not leave the circuit. The remainder are held
for sale for breeding purposes to outsiders. It is practically certain
that the breeders in these circuits will with this public help build
up herds from which they will be able to sell breeding animals at
good prices; and in some cases these circuit herds may become so
famous that breeding animals coming from them will be held at a
high premium, and the simple fact of an animal having been bred
in the circuit may come to be considered a guarantee of quality.
The contract provides that when one breeder drops out, another can
be elected to the cooperative association to take his place.
In bringing together superior animals for the foundation stocks
60 American Breeders Magazine
the superintendent assists the breeders. He keeps all data concerning
the herds, collects and studies the literature of the particular herd,
travels if necessary in search of stock even to foreign countries. It
is proving convenient and wise to have one of the cooperating
herds on an experiment station or branch station farm. Then pub-
lic funds can more properly be used in bringing into the circuit
high-priced animals from very distant points. Young stock in the
reserved class can then be sold by the station to the other codperating
breeders in the circuit.
Two Cooperative Circuit Breeding Associations already Successfully
Established. — The expenditure of public funds is abundantly justified
by the selection and creation of superior stocks of domestic animals
to be used by breeders and farmers in producing livestock products.
Thus, in Minnesota the Department of Agriculture and the State
Experiment Station are cooperating in the production of a sub-
breed of Shorthorn cattle which are at once good beef and good dairy
animals. If that work had now been in progress twenty years and
the breeders of pedigreed Shorthorns could there secure breeding
animals with which to restore some of the lost milking ability of this
breed — made too exclusively a beef breed— the breeders in this
circuit would be able to command excellent prices for all they could
register for sale outside the circuit. And if milking Shorthorns
should prove more profitable for dairy farms, or for general farms
where the desire is not to milk the year round yet where cows are
kept for special-purpose dairy cattle or special-purpose beef cattle,
they would come very much into demand in their own communities.
The fact that there is a dispute on as to whether dual-purpose cattle
are more profitable, herd for herd, than special-purpose cattle for
the general or specialized farm, constituted good reason for choosing
milking Shorthorns as one of the first breeds to place under circuit
breeding. The methods which are growing out of the work of com-
parison of animals and herds in circuit breeding herds will be useful
in comparing the profits of herds of the different classes of live stock.
The second cooperative circuit breeders association was inaugurated
three years ago under the combined auspices of the United States
Department of Agriculture and the North Dakota Experiment Sta-
tion. The breed chosen was the Holstein-Friesian, and the coop-
erators are a group of farmers, mostly of German descent, out on
the edge of the short-grass country. They had proved to their
satisfaction that a combination of dairy and grain farming was
necessary to success in that region of deficient rainfall. They are
Editorials 61
delighted with the circuit scheme of improving their herds and they
are gradually introducing the blood of superior Holstein-Friesian
families. As these circuit breeders test these blood lines for their
adaptability for their own peculiar conditions, they will weed out
and select so as to have a sub-breed of Holstein cattle suited to the
dry, windy, cold climate of the northwest.
The Possibilities of Circuit Breeding Have Only Been Touched at
the Edges. — A number of localities have been mentioned and dis-
cussed in some detail for additional circuits. Thus in New Mexico,
Colorado, and other states it has been suggested that circuits be
established under which horse ranchmen would cooperate under
scientific supervision in the production of light horses, both drivers
and saddlers. It has been pointed out that in the production of
saddlers the largest and best of the grades would be available for
army remounts and that the smaller ones would be in demand for
cow ponies and for prairie saddlers generally. The hilly country in
the Appalachian region has been mentioned as suited to circuits for the
production both of driving and saddle horses. The Morgan-horse
project in Vermont will doubtless naturally take on more and more
of the form of the typical circuit project. In the hilly country of
Pennsylvania, West Virginia and southward are splendid areas in
which circuits for either drivers or saddlers could be organized.
Why not one such circuit devoted to purebred Arabs, another to
purebred North African horses, as well as others to Thoroughbreds,
to American Saddlers, and to American Roadsters?
In the light of modern efforts at making scientific plans for breeding,
what a mistake Vermont made in allowing her famous Merinos to
be dissipated and her Morgan horses to wellnigh pass off the state!
Circuit cooperation on the part of the federal and state governments
would soon secure to the Green Mountain State large profits from
the sale of the choicest of breeding animals from these two breeds;
and the country at large, the world in fact, would be receiving an
annual blessing in the form of superior breeding stock. Why should
not Vermont and New Hampshire organize a circuit association
and become the great centers of Ayrshire cattle breeding? Why
should not Maine and Rhode Island become the* great centers for
scientifically bred poultry? Massachusetts and Connecticut could
easily take leading places in the breeding of dairy cattle for the pro-
duction of city milk, as well as in the breeding of varieties of flint corn.
Experts in Tennessee are studying the feasibility of circuit breeding
for the production of mules. Here the circuit must provide first
62 American Breeders Magazine
for the production of an improved strain of jack stock and an im-
proved strain of horses, which when crossed will produce mules of
a high average of excellence. Iowa and surrounding states have
been suggested as the best places for circuits of purebred draft-horse
breeds. Breeders near Duluth have expressed a preference for a cir-
cuit of Guernsey cattle and the breeders of Rice County, Minnesota,
have laid a splendid foundation for a circuit of Holstein cattle, and
Shelby County, Kentucky, needs but the skill of the organizer to
establish a promising breeding circuit of Jerseys. Wyoming has
many of the conditions for a successful circuit for creating the best
type of short-grass-country sheep. Borden of Texas has success-
fully accomplished the initial work needed for the foundation of a
circuit for forming a hybrid breed of cattle based on India or Brahma
cattle and our common cattle. Even the breeders of silver foxes
on Prince Edward Island might properly work under this plan.
Our state agricultural colleges are organizing divisions of genetics
where they are producing men capable of serving as circuit superinten-
dents, as members of governing boards, and as cooperating circuit
breeders. Those who spent the time to devise the circuit scheme
for creating new families, sub-breeds, breeds and even species have
been in no haste and are in no haste now to push the matter forward.
The American Breeders Association, which appointed the committee
to formulate plans, at its recent meeting in Washington expressed
its unanimous approval in the following resolutions:
Resolved : That the Animal Section of the American Breeders Association
approves the so-called circuit cooperative system of breeding domestic animals,
under which the federal and state government provide scientific guidance and
assistance to cooperating groups of breeders in the production of superior
sub-breeds and breeds of animals,
The time has evidently come when this subject should be discussed
in more detail, and in reference to specific projects. The American
Breeders Magazine would be pleased to receive brief statements
suggesting specific plans for circuits for breeds of horses. General
forms for writing out a circuit breeding project for any breed or any
purpose have been prepared by members of the committee, and will
be supplied upon application to the Magazine or to members of the
Committee on Cooperative Animal Breeding.
Editorials 63
EUGENICS CLUBS IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
On page 69 Prof. 0. E. Baker, organizer of an Eugenics Club
at the University of Wisconsin, gives a brief statement and report
concerning that organization to which we desire to call special atten-
tion. It is clear that in the atmosphere of study and research of a
college or university, conditions are favorable for the sane considera-
tion of the subject of eugenics. The American Breeders* Association
has done a public service of inestimable value, in that it has put
the discussion of this subject, in its earlier stages, into the hands of
scientists and students, to the end that this class of people may have a
directing influence in the treatment of this delicate yet most impor-
tant subject. No one can predict when or where the treatment of
this subject may become a fad and the more earnest, scholarly,
scientific people who have a sane and scientific knowledge of the
subject take a part in it, the less harm will come of possible fadism.
The big part of this subject is dealt with in the last paragraph
of Mr. Baker's statement. He says: "We must exalt motherhood
and fatherhood and insist not only upon limiting the propagation
of the undesirable classes but also upon encouraging the perpetuation
of the most perfect. No social duty can exceed this." And a
little farther on he says: "It is easier to reform the other fellow
but I believe it would be better for the leaders of the eugenic move-
ment to endeavor to establish a more sturdy social code among the
higher classes, substituting for the criterion of conspicuous expendi-
ture by which men and more particularly women are prone to judge
each other, the more difficult accomplishment of rearing a healthy
and happy family."
It is true that our educational system has an anti-eugenic affect.
Our schools pay relatively more attention to training the tastes of
the students for the enjoyment of rare and good things, than to
training their ability to produce these good things. No doubt our
educational system is somewhat unbalanced and should be so changed
as to give more of vocational and technical education to people
generally; especially to those people who have the best eugenic blood
and who, on that account, should multiply more rapidly than the
average.
Mr. Baker has clearly demonstrated that there are lines of serious
investigation and discussion which college and university eugenics
clubs could properly consider. It is a question whether there is
any subject now before the American people which is at once of
64 American Breeders Magazine
prime importance, and requires more serious and unbiased considera-
tion than that of the possible improvement of the heredity of future
generations. The American Breeders Association is a scientific and
cooperative organization. It can do no larger service than to assist
in bringing to the American people a sane viewpoint concerning
methods of improving the network of descent of the human family.
This number of the Magazine will go to presidents of colleges and
universities and to such deans and professors as should be especially
interested in leadership in this work. The Association is anxious
to be of assistance in elsewhere organizing clubs of this character.
PLANT-BREEDING AS A BUSINESS FOR FARMERS
To one familiar with the improvements that can be produced in
plants and animals by breeding, it is difficult to realize why practical
men are so slow to take up work in this field. This is particularly
true of plant-breeding. With our domesticated animals breeding
has come to be recognized as one of the primary elements of success
and in almost all the counties of our principal states there are found
special breeders of the different races of cattle, hogs, sheep and horses.
In dairy sections, the importance of using good stock is well recog-
nized and it is now common to find pure bred dairy herds, or at least
herds of high grade animals that approach pure bred pedigree herds
in effectiveness. For many years the production and sale of pure
bred pedigreed stock has occupied the attention of many of our
most intelligent and wide awake farmers and has proven in most
cases an interesting and profitable business. Such live stock breeders
in general, are stimulated by the nature of their work to more care-
fully study business methods and the principles of breeding, and
almost invariably they are strengthened mentally and financially
by their relation to this specialized industry.
It is true that animal breeding has by no means reached the high
state of efficiency that we desire it to reach, but it has become a
well recognized standard industry and is making rapid strides. Not
all of the so-called breeders have developed the skill and judgment
required for the most successful direction of breeding, and not all
of them are as fully informed on the principles of breeding as we
might wish, but the great majority are doing genuinely good work.
We still find it necessary to import many pure bred animals but the
time is rapidly approaching when this will no longer be necessary.
Indeed, it is probable that we now have many breeders of the major-
Editorials 65
ity of the important breeds, who can supply fully as good, if not
better, animals than those ordinarily imported.
How different is the story of plant-breeding. The experiment
stations and agricultural press have urged the importance of improved
varieties until farmers have come to believe that there is something
in plant-breeding, as well as in stock breeding, and experiment
stations are being flooded with inquiries as to where improved pedi-
greed seed of corn, wheat, oats, cotton, potatoes, and the like, can
be* purchased. At the present time, in most cases, these inquiries
must be answered imperfectly. Usually experiment stations are
compelled to confess that they know of no one having carefully bred
seed for sale, or otherwise must refer inquirers to parties in distant
states from which the importation of seed, no matter how highly
bred, is an experiment. This is all wrong! Plant-breeding can be
conducted with as great or even greater certainty of success than
can animal breeding and is less expensive. There is just as great
a necessity for having plant breeders as animal breeders, and it
should be possible in every county in a state to purchase from local
breeders, highly improved strains of the principal crops grown in
the section.
Plant-breeding methods have now been developed that can be
utilized by practical breeders in the improvement of almost any
of our agricultural crops. These methods are easy to learn and
simple of application. Hosts of young farmers are seeking new
lines of work that give promise of advancement and remuneration,
and in plant-breeding they can find a virgin field with unlimited
possibilities for achievement.
Why should such a field be attractive to young men? In answer
I would give three reasons.
(1) Because of the little capital necessary to start such work.
In the beginning one would naturally start with but few crops, as
possibly, corn and oats, or wheat and potatoes, and the general,
farming would go on as usual.
(2) Because of the profit to be derived from the sale of seed.
(3) Because by breeding and improving seed for the use of a
community one is helping to improve and build up that community
by bettering its agriculture.
The field is more than ordinarily attractive because while the
individual is primarily working for the compensation derived from
the sale of seed, if his work is honestly done, and he is earnest and
faithful, his influence is certain to lead to the general use of better
66 American Breeders Magazine
seed in his community and therefore, to a very general improvement
in conditions.
The importance of using highly bred seed can no longer be ques-
tioned. The improvement of the corn crop of Illinois, following
the general introduction of methods of corn selection, has been very
marked. It has been estimated that the crop of the state as a whole
has been increased as a result by an average of about five bushels
per acre, and in special instances, an average increase of nearly
fifteen bushels per acre is claimed to have been obtained.
While working at the Minnesota Experiment Station, Professor
W. M. Hays, now the assistant secretary of agriculture of our great
national department, obtained increases with different highly selected
strains of wheat, averaging from one to five bushels per acre.
Sea-Island cotton growers, by continuous selection over a period
of fifty years, increased the length of fiber from an average of about
1J inches up to 2 \ and 2\ inches in special strains, and these fine
strains which sell at very high prices, are maintained by a continuous
and rigid selection.
Sugar beets furnish an illustration of the value of selection that
is familiar to many, the world over. Here an extensive industry
has been built up that is dependent on the continuous use of seed
from mother beets of high sugar content. The growing of sugar beet
seed for the seed trade is conducted on a very extensive scale by
certain German firms, hundreds of thousands of beets being tested
annually as to form and richness in suger content in order to secure
good mother beets for seed production.
The writer's experiments in the breeding of timothy have led to
the production of a number of new varieties, 17 of which in field
trials in 1910, gave under identical conditions of cultivation and
treatment, an increase in yield of 851 pounds per acre over test plats
grown from the best timothy seed which could be purchased on the
market. In 1911 these same plats gave an average increase in yield
of 3,062 pounds per acre over ordinary timothy grown in comparison
with them and four of the best varieties each gave an increase of
over 4,000 pounds, or 2 tons, per acre over ordinary timothy. The
very striking increases in yield given by these new sorts will be appre-
ciated when it is remembered that the average yield in the section
where these trials were made is only about 1.30 tons per acre and
where 2 tons per acre is considered a good crop. An idea of the value
of such new races to the country, if equally good sorts could be grown
universally, can be gained from the following statement.
Editorials 67
Hay is one of the largest agricultural crops of the United States,
outranking all other crops, except corn, in total value of production.
In 1910, according to the statements issued by the United States
Department of Agriculture, there were grown in the United States
45,691,000 acres of hay which yielded a crop having a farm valuation
of $747,769,000 No statistics are available from which we can
determine what proportion of this hay was timothy, but the writer
believes that we may safely conclude that at least one-third of the
entire hay crop of the country is timothy. If this is true, the timothy
crop of the United States in 1910 had a valuation of over $249,000,000.
In the two years during which tests have been made, the 17 new
sorts gave an average increased yield of slightly over 36t per cent
above ordinary timothy. A 36$ per cent increase in the valuation
of the timothy crop as above estimated would give us over $90,000,-
000 as the estimated annual gain in the value of the crop which
would be obtained if equally good new sorts could be used through-
out the country.
A method of breeding timothy has been introduced by the writer that
is simple of application and is believed to be adapted to the use of
farmers who desire to breed timothy and produce seed of improved
races for sale. This method which will be described in detail in a
bulletin of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
soon to be published, is fully as simple and easy of application as
the methods of corn breeding used by farmers in Illinois, Iowa and
Ohio, and the writer believes is more certain to give marked increases
in yield.
It may be considered doubtful whether it is wise to urge farmers
to embark on new enterprises, but in urging them to breed improved
varieties of timothy and grow the seed for sale, the writer thinks
that he is on safe ground. A farmer near Ithaca, in the summer
of 1911 had a crop of ordinary timothy that he estimated would
yield about 1 J tons per acre. He harvested the crop for seed, obtain-
ing 7 bushels of seed per acre, which he sold in his local market at
$7.00 per bushel. The threshed timothy straw, of which there was
a yield of about 1 ton per acre, when baled sold for $14.00 per ton.
This gave a gross income of $63.00 per acre. The maximum wheat
yields of the same area were less than 30 bushels per acre, which
at a price of $1.00 per bushel would give a gross income of only $30.00
per acre. Timothy seed of improved new varieties may be expected
to sell readily for many years to come at a rate of from $10 to $15
68 American Breeders Magazine
per bushel and a careful and successful breeder of this crop should
be able to obtain an abundant reward for his study and labor.
The ease with which improvements can be made by careful breed-
ing is also illustrated by results obtained by the writer in breeding
corn for early maturity. In this experiment in the selection of corn
to increase the earliness, conducted at Ballston Lake, N. Y., a test
was made last year, after 4 years of selection, to determine what
improvement had been effected. A careful grading of the ears at
harvest time gave for the orginal seed with which the selection was
started, a proportion of 87 per cent unripe to 13 per cent ripe and for
the selected strain, 72 per cent ripe to 28 per cent unripe. This means
a gain of nearly 2 weeks in earliness. The two strains were clearly
distinguishable in the field. Another interesting feature exhibited
was the fact that the selected strain had also increased in yield to
the extent of nearly three bushels per acre so that considering its
degree of maturity, it gave a heavier yield than the original strain.
These results were obtained by four years of selection by a
method easy of application and inexpensive. While the breeding
is in progress, a crop of corn is being produced that is just as valuable
as any other corn and while not of sufficiently high grade to be sold
as improved seed, can all be utilized except that portion reserved
for planting, and no greater proportion of the crop will be utilized
for seed purposes than would be used in planting the corn crop of
the farm if no breeding work was being conducted. By the fourth
year a certain part of the crop from selected seed can be sold for
seed purposes and from that time forward a larger and larger amount
of more and more highly bred seed can be offered for sale.
No special field of agriculture offers greater opportunities for
advancement and profit than does plant-breeding. The country
is coming to demand seed of known quality and high efficiency.
This demand will surely and steadily increase so that no risk is in-
volved in taking up the business except in the ability and adaptability
of the individual. Intelligence, honesty and perseverance, are the
three qualities most necessary. No man possessing these qualities
or characteristics should fail to achieve success. — Herbert J.
Webber.
NEWS AND NOTES
THE EUGENICS CLUB AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
Having been interested in plant breeding for several years, the
writer last October suggested to other members of Professor Ross'
seminar in sociology that the formation of a small study group would
afford us more information about the eugenics movement. The
idea was immediately approved, but it was soon learned that the
various courses and seminars in biology, experimental breeding, and
sociology were offering such work. Moreover, most of us were
pressed for time, and hence wished our information condensed
and from authorities, if possible. So it was decided to organize
a more popular Eugenics Club, secure speakers, and meet twice
monthly. Immediately several young ladies applied for member-
ship, involving a second problem, which was decided in the affirm-
ative. And may I add that the women have proven a source of
strength to the club, and that at no time has there occurred any
occasion for embarrassment.
Organization: — There are a president, vice-president, and secretary-treas-
urer, and five committees, whose chairmen, with the officers, constitute an
executive committee:
The Extension Committee, whose work at present is three fold :
(1) The investigation and tabulation of all laws, such as those of Indiana,
Connecticut, Switzerland, relative to marriage of defectives, steri-
lization and other means of eugenic control.
(2) The preparation of a study bulletin for distribution through the
Extension Department of the University.
(3) The recommendation of lecturers to the Extension Department.
The first piece of work is approaching completion, the second has
been begun, and the third is under consideration.
The Research Committee, whose work is also three fold :
(1) The gathering of genealogies of interesting cases.
(2) The investigation of certain subjects allied to eugenics, several of
the members securing credit for the work performed from the Univer-
sity departments concerned; while others are taking eugenic subjects
for their seminary or thesis topics. Several members of the Exten-
sion Committee are also securing University credits for their work.
(3) The supplying of information to the Extension Committee.
The Literature Committee, whose work is two fold :
(1) The reading and tabulation of all available literature upon the subject.
(2) The supplying of information, list of readings, etc., to the Extension
Committee and to the Club.
The Membership Committee, whose work is two fold:
(1) The solicitation of desirable members.
69
70 American Breeders Magazine
(2) Passing upon applicants for membership.
The Chairman of this committee is a woman.
The Program Committee, which, —
(1) Secures speakers, advertises the meeting, and inserts press notices.
Membership: — The membership at present is about 75, and the attendance
averages one hundred. Probably one-half are graduate students, mostly from
the College of Letters and Science and from the Agricultural College. An
effort will soon be made to interest the medical and law students. About
one-quarter are undergraduates from the same colleges, and the remaining
fourth physicians (mostly women), a lawyer, and other mature people from the
city, and several professors. Each of the three committees' first mentioned,
by the way, has three professors serving as consulting members.
Programs: — Four meetings have been held, three addressed by University
professors, and one by a city physician. The next session will be devoted to
a report of the Extension Committee, giving the results of its investigations ;
and now that the club has gotten into running order it is anticipated that fully
half of the sessions will conducted by the student members alone. Since
willingness to work is as excellent a criterion of sincere interest in a subject
in a university as an appropriation bill is in a legislature,, it would appear that
the eugenic movement has secured a substantial hold upon the affections of
the members of the club.
Both Mr. Kelly, of the Research Committee, and myself have
called the attention of the Club to the American Breeders Association,
and I suppose that ere this Professor Cole has sent you some new
names.
Now may I be pardoned in offering some observations, and asking
opinions on some hasty suggestions upon a certain aspect of Eugenic
reform. Probably our modern system of education, particularly
of higher education, is one of the most potent anti-eugenic forces
operating today. I believe that an investigation in England has
shown that whereas defectives and criminals average over six child-
ren per family, the normal family ranges from four to five child-
ren, while the "intellectuals" are credited with less than four. Our
own American college graduates appear in an equally undesirable
light, Harvard and Yale men averaging much less than two children
apiece. In other words, that portion of our population which is
intellectually superior is not self-maintaining; but, as Professor
Holmes remarked at a recent meeting of the Club, we are killing the
goose that lays the golden eggs. Which he suggested might explain
the prevalent opinion among instructors of increasing mediocrity
of college students.
A few hours consideration of this problem has suggested to me
several means of relief: First, I am inclined to credit the Carnegie
Pension Fund, in addition to other excellent results, as being one
News and Notes 71
of the most effective eugenic measures ever accomplished. This sug-
gests the ultimate desirability of the establishment of fellowships
for married students. There appear to be three ways of encouraging
fecundity among educated people:
(1) By shortening the period of preparation; and since the fetish
of mental discipline is no longer being worshipped, and professional
courses are being driven down into the freshmen and sophomore
years, this would appear in process of accomplishment.
(2) By economic encouragement permitting marriage before the
completion of professional preparation, as suggested above.
(3) By substituting a different social standard for that diletante
etiquette which today frowns upon family life. We must exalt
motherhood and fatherhood, and insist not only upon limiting the
propagation of the undesirable classes, but also upon encouraging
the perpetuation of the most perfect. No social duty can exceed
this. In the Eugenics Club reference has several times been made
to the enactment of legal restrictions upon unfit marriages, which
is well — it is easier to reform the other fellow; but I believe it would
be better for the leaders of the eugenic movement to endeavor to
establish a more sturdy social code among the higher classes; substi-
tuting for the criterion of conspicuous expenditures, by which men,
and more particularly women, are prone to judge each other today,
the higher and more difficult accomplishment of rearing a healthy
and happy family. — Oliver E. Baker, Madison, Wisconsin.
ILLUSTRATION OF MENDELIAN SEGREGATION .
On page 210 of the American Breeders Magazine, vol. ii, no. 3,
Prof. Arthur W. Gilbert in his interesting article on "Suggestive
Laboratory Exercises for a Course in Plant Breeding," gives in Exer-
cise 18 an illustration of the application of the law of chance. Under
"(a)" materials and methods are suggested to illustrate the union
of gametes where two pairs of characters are concerned. While
this illustration gives very well the theoretical ratio, an optical
representation of Mendelian segregation would be greatly appreciated
by those students who find it difficult to get a clear conception of
abstract relations. For this purpose and to simplify matters it would
seem better to let a single kernel of corn (or other object) represent
a single character rather than two, i. e., yellow color and flintiness,
in the above example. Starting with two individuals each having
two characters which are to be combined in the cross, the resultant
72 American Breeders Magazine
hybrid will have in its make-up these four characters (partly domi-
nant and partly recessive). In the F 2 generation these characters
will be recombined into nine different types.
To illustrate this process the following method is suggested. To
make it as clear as possible an actual case of Mendelian segregation
has been taken, that of the origination of the "Waved King Edward"
sweet pea, by the simple crossing of the plain red "King Edward"
with the waved pink "Countess Spencer."*
Provide four kinds of beans of as near the same size as possible
in equal numbers: let the black beans, B, represent the dominant
plain character of the sweet peas mentioned above, the gray beans,
G, the recessive wavy character, the white beans, W, the recessive
pink character, and the spotted beans, S, the dominant red character.
Suppose the allelomorphic composition of the first parent is BBSS,
the gametes of this parent will be BS. The composition of the
second parent may be represented by GGWW with gametes GW.
The cross between them is BGSW. This hybrid produces four types
of gametes, viz: BS, BW, GS, GW. The union of these four types
of gametes gives:
(1) 1 BBSS (4) 2 BGSS (7) • 1 GGSS
(2) 2 BBSW (5) 4 BGSW (8) 2 GGSW
(3) 1 BBWW (6) 2 BGWW (9) 1 GGWW
Provide two vessels, in one of which place all the black, B, and
gray, G, beans (the choice being between a plain and a wavy charac-
ter) ; in the other, place all the white, W } and spotted, S, beans (the
choice being between pink and red characters).
Draw at random two at a time from each vessel and combine
them into groups of four which will represent individual sweet pea
plants in the F 2 generation. It will be seen that the nine types
above will be produced in a ratio as near the theoretical as is obtained
in actual plant breeding practice. The larger the number of beans
the nearer, of course, will the result correspond with the theoretical.
In ten trials using 100 beans of each kind the following result was
obtained:
a Mendel's Law of Heredity and its Application to Horticulture, C. C. Hurst, F. L. S., pp.
22-23. Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society \ vol. 36, part I.
News and Notes
73
Types.
Trtab.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
BBSS
BBSW
BBWW
BOSS
BQSW
BGWW
QOSS
OQSW
OGWW
1
3
14
5
19
22
15
7
6
9
2
8
14
7
13
26
13
10
8
6
; 3
6
14
3
9
29
16
7
13
3
4
6
15
4
10
26
14
7
12
6
5
7
13
6
13
20
15
5
16
5
6
7
10
10
11
21
14
9
14
4
7
9
14
2
11
25
14
3
14
8
8
5
17
8
13
17
10
8
13
9
4
21
4
13
16
13
7
14
8
10
3
12
7
56
1.05
1
18
27
12
5
11
5
Total*
53
1
1
144
2.7
2
130
2.4
2
229
4.3
4
136
2.5
2
68
1.2
1
121
2 2
2
63
Ratio, actual
1.1
1
It will be seen that the actual ratio corresponds more or less closely
to the theoretical ratio of the nine types obtained where two con-
trasting pairs of characters are used.
To apply the results to the sweet pea cross we have the following:
Type (1) BBSS, plain red sweet peas, pure (first parent).
(2) BBSW, plain red sweet peas, with recessive pink characters.
(3) BBWW, plain pink sweet peas, pure.
(4) BGSS, plain red sweet peas, with recessive wavy characters.
(5) BQSW, plain red sweet peas, with recessive wavy and pink charac-
ters.
(6) BGWW, plain pink sweet peas, with recessive wavy characters.
(7) GOSS, wavy red sweet peas, pure ("Waved King Edward").
(8) GGSW, wavy red sweet peas, with recessive pink characters.
(9) GGWW, wavy pink sweet peas, pure (second parent).
Of these nine types, 1, 3, 7, and 9 are pure types and come true as
determined in the F 8 generation. The remaining five types break up
in various ways, each of them producing more or less of one of the
fixed types above.
Because of the dominancy of the red and plain characters we
should expect in the F 2 generation to get plain red sweet peas (some
pure, others not), wavy reds (some pure, others not), plain pinks
(some pure, others not) and wavy pinks (pure). Collecting these
four kinds from the table above we have:
74 .
American Breeders Magazine
Plain reds.
Wavy reds.
Plain pinks.
Wavy pinks.
Types.
Totals.
Types.
Totals.
Types.
Totals.
Types.
Totals.
(1)
(2)
(4)
(5)
53
144
130
229
(7)
(8)
68
121
(3)
<»)
56
136
(9)
63
Totals , ,
556
8.8
9
189
192
3
3
63
Ratio, actual
3
3
1
Ratio, theoretical
1
To determine which of these are pure types it is necessary to raise
the third generation self-pollinated. Those which come true from
seed are pure types.
For laboratory practice it would be desirable to have disks with
the names of the contrasted characters printed upon them and desig-
nated as to dominancy or recessiveness. — W. R. Ballard, Maryland
Agricultural Experiment Station.
REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE EUGENICS SECTION
A meeting of the Eugenics Section of the American Breeders'
Association was held at Washington, December 29 and 30, 1911,
with the attendance of about fifty members at all sectional meetings.
At the general session, December 29, Dr. E. E. Southard, director
of the Neuropathic Institute, gave a paper "Geographical Relations
of Nervous Diseases in Massachusetts." At the general evening
session of December 29, Hon. W. M. Hays, Assistant Secretary of
Agriculture, gave a paper entitled, "Constructive Eugenics." At
the general session in the afternoon of December 30, Dr. H. H.
Goddard read a paper, "Heredity of Feeble Mindedness, a Social
Danger."
The special session on the afternoon of December 29 was held at
the Volta Bureau founded by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. After
an address of welcome by the superintendent of the Volta Bureau,
Mr. Taylor, and response by the secretary of the Section Dr. E. E.
Southard was elected chairman for the meeting. Dr. Bell gave an
opening address concerning the foundation and work of the Volta
Bureau. Mr. H. H. Laughlin, superintendent of the Eugenics Record
Office reported on the work of the office for the past year. Prof.
Robert DeC. Ward of Harvard University read a paper, "Our Immi-
gration Laws from the View Point of Eugenics." Dr. A. H. Esta-
brook of the Eugenics Record Office presented a paper on inheritance
News and Notes 75
of shyness and of eroticism, based on some field studies. A party was
personally conducted by Dr. Bell to inspect the vault and filing
system of the Bureau.
A second special session of the Eugenics Section was held Decem-
ber 30 at 9:30 in the Government Hospital for the Insane. Dr.
Henry A. Cotton, medical director of Trenton State Hospital was
elected chairman pro tempore. Dr. William A. White, superinten-
dent of the Government Hospital discussed the methods and results
of the field work and spoke critically of the difficulties of diagnosis.
He laid stress upon the importance of the charts in exhibiting the
results in popular form. Dr. Frederick A. Rhodes of Pittsburgh gave
a paper entitled, "Eugenics from the Standpoint of the Physician."
Dr. Henry A. Cotton showed charts illustrating inheritance of insan-
ity and a paper by Dr. F. A. Woods, entitled "Alternative Human
Inheritance in Eugenics." On motion of Mr. W. M. Hays the fol-
lowing resolutions were adopted:
Resolved : That the Eugenics Section organize a permanent committee on
immigration, with authority to cooperate with similar committees of other or-
ganizations in securing laws which will be more effective in securing immigrants
which bring good health and only normal and superior heredity to this country.
Resolved : That the Eugenics Section request the Association to appoint
a committee to report on the possibilities of securing data and useful eugenics
legislation through the United States Census Bureau, the Bureau of Health
and other societies and institutions.
After luncheon provided by Dr. White an opportunity was given
for visiting the hospital. The following officials were elected at the
sectional meeting of December 30, Dr. E. E. Southard, chairman;
Dr. H. H. Goddard, Vineland, N. J., vice-chairman; Dr. C. B.
Davenport, secretary. — Dr. C. B. Davenport, Secretary Eugenics
Section, A. B. A.
INTERNATIONAL EUGENICS CONGRESS
The first international Eugenics Congress has been called to meet
in London, on July 24 to 31, 1912 at the instance of the London
Society of Eugenics. Dr. David Starr Jordan in a note to the editor
states that: "The purpose of this Congress is to try to bring together
as many people interested in the subject as possible and to have a
series of papers and discussions, primarily those of popular interest;
it not being intended to make the Congress a vehicle for exclusively
technical papers. "
76 American Breeders Magazine
The circular announces that the work of the Congress will be
grouped in four sections :
(1) The bearing upon eugenics of biological research.
(2) The bearing upon eugenics of sociological and historical re-
search.
(3) The bearing upon eugenics of legislation and social customs.
(4) Consideration of the practical application of eugenic principles.
The following persons are the vice-presidents from the United
States: Alexander Graham Bell, Dr. C. B. Davenport, Charles W.
Eliot, Dr. David Starr Jordan, Gifford Pinchiot, Dr. E. E. Southard
and Bleecher von Wagenen.
Dr. Jordan and Prof. Vernon Kellogg will both attend the Congress.
The American Breeders Association which holds a membership in
the Congress will be duly represented.
Those who are interested in the proceedings of this Congress may
obtain further information by addressing The Honorary Secretary,
Eugenics Education Society, 6 York Building, Adelphi, London.
Membership is one pound ($5).
The president of this international body is Major Leonard Darwin;
P. von Fleischl, Honorary Treasurer; Mrs. Gotto, Honorary Sec-
retary.
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
The Inhebitancb of Color in Short Horn Cattle. H. H. Laughlin, Car-
negie Station for Experimental Evolution, Cold Spring Harbor, New York.
Reprinted from the American Naturalist, Vol. XLV, Dec, 1911. pp. ?05-
742; and Vol. XLVI, Jan., 1912, pp. 6-28, 9 figs.
The Mating op the Unfit: A Study in Eugenics. W. J. ConkUn, A.M.,
M.D., Dayton, Ohio. Pp. 22, 4 figs.
The Production of the Lima Bean: The Need and Possibility of its
Improvement. G. W. Shaw and M. E. Sherwin. Bulletin No. 224, Agri-
cultural College Experiment Station, Berkeley, California, 1911. Pp. 199
.-246. Illustrated.
Twenty-Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Animal Industry
Department of Agriculture, for the Year 1910. 573 pp., pis. XLII,
75 text figs.
Three articles in this publication deserve to be especially named to
members of the American Breeders Association, who are interested
in animal breeding.
The Army Remount Problem. Dr. George M. Rommel, Chief Division of
Animal Husbandry. 85 pp. Illustrated.
The Principles of Breeding and the Origin of Domesticated Breeds
of Animals. Dr. J. Crossar Ewart. 53 pp. Illustrated.
News and Notes 77
The Ancestry of Domesticated Cattle. Dr. E. W. Morse. 53 pp. Illus-
trated.
An Improved Method of Artificial Pollination in Corn. G. N. Collins
and I. H. Kempton. Circular No. 89, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S.
Department of Agriculture. 7 pp., 2 figs.
Breeding Poultry for Egg Production. Raymond Pearl. Bulletin No.
192, Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. Pp. 113-176.
A Comparative Microscopic Study of the Melanin Content of Pigmenta-
tion of Skins with Special Reference to the Question of Color
Inheritance among Mulattos. . Prof. H. E. Jordan, University of Vir-
ginia. Pp. 449-470, 3 fig. Reprinted from the American Naturalist,
Vol. XLV, Aug., 1911.
Experimental Studies in Indian Cottons. H. Martin Leake, M.A. Pp.
447-451. Reprint from Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Studies in Indian Cotton. H. Martin Leake, M.A. Figs. 4, pis. II.
Reprint from Journal of Genetics, Vol. L, No 3.
The Genotypes of Maize. Dr. George Harrison Shull. Cold Spring Harbor,
N. Y. Pp. 234-252. Illustrated. Reprinted from American Naturalist,
1911.
Reversible Mutants in Lychnis Dioica. Dr. George Harrison Shull. Pp.
329-368, 15 illustrations. Reprinted from the Botanical Gazette, Nov.,
1911.
Defective Inheritance. Ratios in Bursa Hybrids. Dr. George Harrison
Shull. Pp. 12, pis. VI. Reprinted from Vol. XLIX of Transactions Des
Naturforschender Vereins in Brunn.
Methods in Breeding Cereals for Rust Resistance. Edw. C. Johnson,
U. S. Department of Agriculture. Pp. 76-80. Reprint from Proceedings
of American Society of Agronomy. Vol. 2, 1910.
Cross Breeding Corn. C. P. Hartley, Earnest B. Brown, C. H. Kyle and
L. L. Zook, Office of Corn Investigation, B. P. I., U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Bulletin No. 218. Pp. 72.
NEW BOOKS
Heredity in Relation to Evolution and Animal Breeding. William E.
Castle, Professor of Zoology, Harvard University. 184 pp., 53 illus-
trations. Apple ton and Company, New York and London, 1911.
Few subjects are commanding such universal and popular atten-
tion as the rising science of genetics. The literature of the subject
is rapidly growing voluminous. The task of putting this varied and
interesting material into pedagogical form is fortunately being assumed
by writers who possess the gift of presenting the subject clearly and
interestingly. Heretofore we have known breeding only as an art.
ASSOCIATION MATTERS
MEMBERSHIP FEES ARE DUE
Please send in your 1912 membership dues promptly upon receipt
of due bill and try by all means to send dues of a new member in
addition.
PLACE OF THE NEXT MEETING, 1918
The National Corn Exposition has invited the American Breeders
Association to hold its ninth annual meeting at Columbia, South
Carolina, February 8-9 1912, setting the date of the meeting so that
it will be held on the two days immediately preceding the opening
of the Exposition. In this way conflict of interest will be avoided,
and members by staying over may visit the Corn Exposition, which
promises to be not only on a larger scale than any previous one,
but to include more educational features and a wider scope generally,
No definite announcement will be made until the Council shall have
decided this matter by vote.
The Corn Exposition authorites with their usual generosity have
offered to the American Breeders' Association facilities for holding
meetings and the use of rooms for lectures, and the commercial bodies
of Columbia and Charleston have expreseed the desire to entertain
the members of the Association. An attractive program for the
entertainment of members has been tentatively worked out and
includes among other things a visit to the tea farm at Summers-
ville South Carolina, the only tea farm in the United States, an
auto trip from Summersville to Charleston.
WORTH OF THE WORK OF THE AMERICAN BREEDERS
ASSOCIATION
I wish to congratulate you upon the wonderful progress you have made with
your society and its publications. I am proud of it; I am proud of having
a little connection with the organization. — William George, Aurora, III.
I wish to express my appreciation of the excellent form in which our Maga-
zine has been written, edited and published during the past year. — Joseph
S. Montgomery, St. Paul, Minn.
I congratulate you upon the fine appearance of the last number of the Maga-
zine. I am pleased to note that you have included eugenics in the sub-title.
I suppose it is more than a branch of genetics on account of its social bearings.
— Chas. B. Davenport, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.
80
i
Address AMERICAN BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
Washington, D. C.
I '.
U)l
THE AMERICAN
BREE DE RS M A GAZINE
"One of the most precious things in the world is the labor of human beings; and I find myself
asking over and over: 'What a vast difference in the reward of labor does it make what kind of
seeds are planted on the millions of cultivated acres?' I have not yet answered my own question,
but ask you to remember that the problem raised is also yours." — A. M. Ferguson.
Vol. Ill Second Quarter, 1912 No. 2
A. E. BLOUNT, 1831-1911
W. H. Olin
Boise, Idaho
Since the 1911 meeting of the American Breeders Association at
Columbus, Ohio, one of the pioneer plant breeders of America has
" passed over the range" — Prof. A. E. Blount.
Ainsworth Emery Blount was born at Brainard, East Tennessee —
a mission station — February 6, 1831. He passed his early boyhood
in that region, leading a simple form of life in the midst of the Cher-
okee Indians. His children later in life delighted to hear their
father talk and sing in the Cherokee language, which he learned
from his boyhood playmates.
On his father's side Professor Blount was descended from Puritan
stock, while his mother, born Harriet Ellsworth, was granddaughter
of Oliver Ellsworth, first Chief Justice of the United States, and
member of that memorable convention which drafted the Federal
Constitution in 1787. Professor Blount graduated from Dartmouth
College in 1859, and at the time of the Civil War he was principal
of the Masonic Female Institute, Cleveland, Tenn. He resigned
his position at the opening of the war; entering the first East Tennes-
see Cavalry as a private, he came out of the war with the rank of
captain in above named regiment. In 1865 he married the daughter
of Dr. J. F. Hall of Portsmouth, N. H.
After the Civil War, Professor Blount began elaborate investiga-
tions in the principles of heredity and the breeding of cereals. He was
the first plant breeder in the cereals — corn and wheat — as well as one
of the first workers with and propagators of alfalfa in America. The
writer believes Professor Blount to have been the first plant breeder
in America to use as the fundamental principle which governed all his
breeding work with the cereals: " Select the best to cross on the best
to make a better offspring." It is the use of this rule which has en-
81
Olin: Blount 83
abled Luther Burbank and others to produce such desirable and
valuable results in nuts, fruits, flowers, and grains.
In his corn work Professor Blount began with an eight-rowed white
dent corn and, after ten years' work in crossing and selection, he
had created a new variety, Blount's Prolific. Of this, he says:
"I had the satisfaction of putting into the hands of real live farmers
a variety that excelled anything in the shape of maize that, up to
that time, had been grown in America, as the Rural New Yorker of
1879 fully illustrates. It is still for sale all over the country by no
less than a dozen seed houses, but, sad to say, it is so deteriorated that
its prolific feature is hardly left. Corn mixes so readily it is impos-
sible, even isolated miles away from all other kinds, to keep pure
and genuine seed without a yearly protection.''
Professor Blount was the first one to introduce durum wheats in
the United States. It was while Professor Blount was at the Colo-
rado State Agricultural College as Agriculturist that probably his
greatest work was done in seed breeding.
Speaking of this work in correspondence with the writer he says:
"While thei£ [in Colorado], in 12 of the best years of my life, I made
many crosses between the best varieties, only 43 of which were worth
propagating. I then called them hybrids, but on further investigation
declared them only 'crosses,' not hybrids. It was in 1879 that I re-
ceived a very small sample of the then smooth Defiance Wheat and
his Champion Bearded No. 9 from E. C. Pringle (Vt.), who claimed
to have 'originated' them — how he never told me, though I sought to
know his method. From this seed I gained quite a large number of
average heads, the largest, if I remember rightly, not quite 3 inches
long, with only about 21 kernels in the glumes, including the white
cap. The next year I selected the 'best and crossed the best on the
best to get a better offspring' — the rule I worked on in all my exper-
iments. In 1885 you will see how much it was improved by 'selecting
the best to cross on the best to get a better offspring.' See No. 8,
page 44, Secretary's Report for 1886.
Professor Blount told the writer in a letter that one single grain
of Defiance in his nursery, under irrigation, produced 106 good heads
containing an average of 43 kernels each, heads fully 5 to 6 inches
long from base to tip of white-cap.
The president of the college was a man of classical training who did
not appreciate the work being done by Professor Blount, and the
director of the experiment station — a graduate of the Agricultural Col-
lege of Michigan — refused to recognize the worth and value of this vet-
84 American Breeders Magazine
eran plant breeder's most excellent work and so the world at large
learned little of what was being done. It is to be regretted that much of
the best work in plant breeding done by Professor Blount at the
Colorado Station was lost after he was driven from the station by col-
lege politics. He had in his nursery over 400 named varieties of
wheat, most of which he knew at a glance without consulting the
labels. He was in correspondence with 40 of the best plant breeders
of his day, in Australia, Asia, England, Continental Europe, North
and South America. From 1890 to 1898 Professor Blount did active
and valuable work in the new agricultural station of New Mexico.
Failing health caused him to retire from active service. He spent
his last years in his truly delightful home among family and friends
at Wellesley, Mass. Even here, he was consulted by plant specialists
for advice, for his experience, perseverance ; and capacity for accurate
and delicate work had made him an authority on plant breeding.
As long as he lived he was constantly in receipt of letters from all the
wheat-growing states and foreign countries growing this cereal.
His death, February 21, 1911, was caused by an attack of pneu-
monia. Defiance Wheat is his gift to the Irrigated West, demon-
strated by miller and farmer to be the best milling spring wheat
grown on the irrigated lands of America. He was a most modest
man, an untiring investigator, a great lover of nature and of little
children, as well as of plants and flowers. He attained success. A
speed-mad and money-mad commercialized world would perhaps
not consider it such. The writer inclines to proclaim as a successful
man, one who has added one flower, one food grain, fruit or economic
plant, useful to man or beast; who has not lost the love of little chil-
dren; who has learned the love of Nature, and though he may not have
amassed wealth, has made the world better for his having lived in
it, living a life that speaks for purity, truth and love. Such success
Blount had achieved.
THE CORNELL EXPERIMENTS IN BREEDING
TIMOTHY"
Herbert J. Webber
Ithaca, New York
Introduction. — Almost all of our cultivated plants and animals are
represented by numerous varieties and breeds. We do not cultivate
merely wheat, corn, or apples, but we grow Dawson's Golden Chaff
wheat, Learning corn, or Baldwin apples. We have hundreds of
races of corn and wheat and over a thousand varieties of apples. In
cotton, oats, barley, peaches, plums, pears, strawberries, and, indeed,
in almost all plants that man has domesticated, we find numerous
varieties. Not so, however, in timothy, our greatest of all hay plants.
Timothy is only timothy. When we buy timothy seed we do not
ask for Excelsior timothy or Jones' timothy; we simply order timothy
seed, and take seed from Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, or any other place
if it is called timothy. Sometimes we ask for a guarantee that the
seed is good, but by this we mean only that it will germinate. We
do not concern ourselves with the all-important question of how
much hay per acre it will produce. When we remember that the
hay crop ranks among the three largest crops in value produced in
the United States, and that timothy forms the bulk of this crop, it
is difficult to conceive that this can be true, but such is the deplorable
fact.
So far as the writer is informed only one series of experiments in
the breeding of timothy has been carried to a successful conclusion.
Between 1895 and 1899, Dr. A. D. Hopkins, then of the West Virginia
Experiment Station, made selections of good timothy plants observed
in nature and found that they could be bred into distinct varieties. 1 *
These varieties were later placed with the U. S. Department of Agri-
culture for trial, but have not been introduced into general cultivation.
It is clear that the most important problem before hay growers
today is to secure improved varieties which are known to be adapted
to certain local conditions and fitted to give the best hay under these
conditions. Not until good varieties adapted to various regions
have been secured can we expect any very general improvement and
increase in the hay crop of the country.
The Cornell Experiments. — The Cornell experiments in breeding
timothy were started in 1903 under the direction of Prof. T. F. Hunt,
a Paper No. 25, Department of Plant-Breeding, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
b Hopkins, A. D., Proc. Soc. Pro. Agr. Science, 1895, pp. 29-33.
85
86 American Breeders Magazine
assisted by Professor Gilmore and Mr. Fraser. The writer was
placed in charge of the experiments in the spring of 1907, and from
that time until 1910 he was assisted in the work by Dr. C. F. Clark.
In order to secure various forms, seed was obtained from 231 dif-
ferent places throughout the world, 21 states, Canada, Japan, and 9
European countries being represented. These seeds were germinated
in sterilized soil and the little plants grown for a time in the green-
house. They were later transplanted into field plats, 42 plants being
grown from each lot of seed. In the field the plants were placed
in rows 30 inches apart each way in order to facilitate the cultivation
and allow the full development of each individual. Grown under
such conditions the plants gradually increase in size by stooling and
the most vigorous individuals in two or three years reach a diameter
of from 1 to 1J feet. Little can be told regarding their characters
until the second year, when they begin to show clearly their mature
character. No final conclusions can be drawn regarding the com-
parative value of the individuals until they have been under observa-
tion for four or five years.
In 1905 certain distinct plants were selected from among this lot,
and open-fertilized seed retained, which was used in planting individ-
ual test rows, the plants being handled and planted separately as
in the preceding case.
The original planting of 1903 included about 20,000 different individ-
ual plants, while that of 1905 included 6304 plants. A good stand
was obtained at first, but a considerable number of plants died later
from various causes. When the writer took charge of the experiments
in 1907 there were probably about 20,000 different plants still living,
and in most cases they were in excellent condition. At that time
all of the plants had reached sufficient age to permit their mature
characters to show plainly and thus were in prime condition for
studying the variations and for choosing plants of different types.
Variations in Timothy. — The variations in different plants of timothy
cannot be observed plainly when the plants are grown under field
conditions. It is necessary to have the individual plants grown
alone with considerable space around them in order to study the
variations. No one who has not studied such a field of timothy
plants can comprehend the richness of forms presented. It is beyond
the scope of such a paper as this to discuss all of the forms presented,
but the following illustrations will give some idea of the variation
in those characters that are of most importance from a practical
standpoint.
Webber: Timothy Breeding at Cornell 87
88 American Breeders Magazine
Yield depends primarily upon the height and diameter of the
plant and upon the density or number of culms developed and also
on the size of each culm, size of head, number and size of leaves,
and the like.
In height, the plants ranged from 18 inches to 55 inches, as shown
by Dr. Clark's summary. Some are veritable dwarfs and others
giants. The diameter of the plant is independent of height. Some
of the dwarf plants formed in a given period clumps almost as large
in diameter as the tall plants. Many plants of three and four years
of age will remain very small, showing very little stooling and produc-
ing each year only a half dozen or a dozen culms. Other plants
stool abundantly and form clumps from 1 foot to \\ feet or more in
diameter, with hundreds of culms.
In the original planting of 1903 the range of variation in yield of
dried hay per plant was from 0.16 of an ounce to 21.60 ounces. If
this difference in the yield of individual plants is transmitted, fields
sowed with small and large yielders should show considerable dif-
ference in this important character.
The stems vary greatly in their diameters and ability to stand
erect, softie individuals showing a decided tendency to lodge.
The leaves vary greatly in length and width but show little varia-
tion in number. The great majority of plants produce almost reg-
ularly 5 nodes with 5 leaves, but occasionally plants are found which
develop normally from 6 to 7 nodes and as many leaves, while occa-
sionally also a lower number of nodes, 3 to 4, is found as the normal
number. This character, however, apparently means but little in
the production of valuable sorts.
The heads also present a large range of variation in size and shape.
They are long and short, thick and thin, smooth and simple, or rough
and branched, and the like.
Plants differ also in density, position of leaves, color, time of rip-
ening, resistance to disease, and hosts of other characters more or
less important. In season of maturity a variation of from two to
three weeks is occasionally found, which is a very important charac-
ter. The variation in susceptibility to rust (Puccinia graminis) is
one of the most valuable characters observed. Some plants are
badly affected every year, while other plants remain almost wholly
free from this most serious disease of timothy.
The question of importance is whether these various individuals
showing valuable characters will reproduce these characters, or
whether they are hybrids or accidental variations that are unstable
Webbeb: Timothy Breeding at Cornell
'ii lype with fa* culnn and to
90 American Breeders Magazine
in nature. The selection and testing of such variations has formed
the basis of the experimental work since 1907.
Methods of Experimentation. — Plats grown from open-fertilized
seed were found to show great variation and little indication of a
transmission of the characters fpr which the plants were selected.
Timothy is normally a cross-fertilized plant, and when plants are
grown in a mixed field where they are freely crossed with all sorts of
pollen, this lack of transmission would be expected. A few heads
protected from cross-pollination by covering with paper bags in 1907
gave a few good seeds, showing that at least some seed would set by
self-fertilization. Since that time each season a considerable number
of the selected plants have been protected from cross-pollination by
covering the entire plant with small cloth tents, or by covering cer-
tain heads with paper bags. In this way self-fertilized or inbred
seed has been obtained from a large number of select types for
testing.
The test of any particular chosen plant is conducted in the follow-
ing way.
(1) The selected plant is propagated vegetatively by digging up
and separating the bulbs that are formed in the stoolingof the plant.
These are taken in early September and a row of from 16 to 24 plants
grown. These plants, it will be understood, are simply transplanted
parts of the same individual. From such propagation the character
of the individual can be judged much better and a more reliable idea
can be obtained of the yielding capacity of the plant as well as other
characters.
(2) Inbred seed is carefully grown in sterilized soil and the seed-
lings transplanted in rows in field plats as above described, to
test the transmission of the characters for which the plants were
selected.
(3) As soon as sufficient seed can be obtained, plats of the dif-
ferent select types are sowed broadcast in the usual way to test the
yield under ordinary field conditions.
(4) As soon as a variety is known or believed to be valuable, iso-
lated plats are planted with inbred seed to obtain seed for planting
large arie^Vhich will finally give 11 sufficient quantities of seed for
distribution.
A large number of types have now been tested more or less thor-
oughly by these methods and very suggestive results obtained.
Do the Variations Transmit their Qualities? — In 1907 over 200
different types were propagated in rows by taking the bulbs and
Webber: Timothy Breeding at Cornell
Plate III -V*w*iioiw in Timoibt.
1, A low dwarf type; 2, a low yielding type with few eul me: 3, a heavy yielding good ty
In diameter and dense: 4, a light yielding plant with fen and spreading culms.
92
American Breeders Magazine
growing them as clonal varieties. The examination of these rows
when they were two, three, and four years old showed wonderful
differences in type and clearly demonstrated that the differences first
observed in the individual seedlings were by no means accidental.
Dwarf plants remained dwarf in such rows and giants remained giants.
Heavy yielders and light yielders transmitted these qualities in
wonderful degree (see Plate IV). In the following table the records
of the average yield per plant by clonal propagation in 5 light-yielding
and 5 heavy-yielding rows will give an indication of the differences
Table 1. — Showing transmission of yield in timothy by clonal and seed
propagation.
No. of
Original Plant.
Plat No.
Average yield per
plant of mother
by clonal
propagation.
ounces.
Plat No.
Average yield per
plant of progeny
by seed
propagation.
ounces.
LIGHT-YIELDING PLANTS.
9.02
1788
2.872
3104
1.666
12.07
1797
.768
3216
1.875
17.25
1728
1.744
3167
1.411
128.19
1799
2.872
3217
0.857
211.31
1792
2.464
3211
1.333
HEAVY-YIELDING PLANTS.
9.03
1611
15.520
1916
10.533
37.31
1630
19.680
1909
9.714
147.41
1620
15.003
1906
10.000
269.41
1743
16.592
1931
9.428
278.40
1752
15.904
1942
9.500
between the various types in this one important character. (See
Table I, column headed "Average yield per plant of mother by clonal
propagation.")
In 1908 and 1909 test rows of plants from inbred seed of a consid-
erable number of different types were planted, and in many cases
by the side of these were grown rows from open-fertilized seed and
from clons of the same original plant. These plats had reached
sufficient size in 1910 and 1911 to allow careful study and judgment.
The writer is now able to state definitely that a very large number
of the variations selected have transmitted their characters in marked
c A clon or clonal variety is one propagated vegetatively by cuttings, bulbs, or grafts, such as the
varieties of strawberries, apples, and the like.
II
!l
II
94 American Breeders Magazine
degree. Indeed, many of the types appear to be as uniform as any
of the varieties of wheat and corn that we have in cultivation.
It would appear that the plants originally selected must have been
mutations or biotypes. Certain it is, they represent distinctly different
types which transmit their characters. Here as in the tests of the
selected individuals by clonal propagation the character of light or
heavy yield is strikingly transmitted. The record of the average
yield per plant of 5 light-yielding and 5 heavy-yielding plants is given
in Table I and will indicate the transmission through seed of these
characters. (See Table I, column marked "Average yield per plant
of progeny by seed propagation.' ' These records are from inbred
seed of the same original mother plants, the average yield of which
by clonal propagation is given in the preceding column.)
Tests of New Varieties of Timothy. — The experiments described
above have shown that when the plants are grown in rows, with all
the space which they require for full development around them,
they transmit their good qualities, such as yield, and are to be re-
garded as stable or fixed varieties. The grower will immediately
inquire whether these qualities of differences in yield are shown when
the different sorts are grown by broadcast sowing in the ordinary
way, for of what value are they unless their good qualities are main-
tained under ordinary methods of cultivation?
To test the different sorts under ordinary conditions, open-ferti-
lized seed, thus probably somewhat mixed, was sown in test plats
in comparison with similar check plats of ordinary timothy. The
open-fertilized seed of the 17 new sorts was taken from rows of these
varieties propagated from bulbs and while not isolated was very
much less subject to crossing than where one plant of a type stands
alone in a mixed field. The later experience with the plats grown
from this seed has shown that there was little crossing, as the plats
of the different sorts clearly show their different characters, such as
lateness and earliness, color and form of head, and the like.
The seed used for the check plats in these experiments was pur-
chased from a local seedsman and was the best timothy seed which
he supplied to his trade. The plats were 1 rod wide and 4 rods
long, thus one-fortieth of an acre, and every fourth plat was used as
a check and planted with the ordinary timothy seed. These plats
were sown in the fall of 1909 and gave good test yields in 1910 and
1911.
Table II shows the actual yields per acre of field-dried hay ob-
tained from each plat in 1910 and 1911. From a study of this
Webber: Timothy Breeding at. Cornell
95
Table 2. — Showing yields of 17 new varieties of timothy in comparison with
ordinary timothy. d
Plat
No.
c
1831
Check
1832
1606
1833
1611
1834
1620
c
1835
Check
1836
1627
1837
1629
1838
1630
c
1830
Check
1840
1653
1841
1668
1842
1671
c
1843
Check
1844
1676
1845
1684
1846
1687
c
1847
Check
1848
1715
1840
1722
1850
1743
c
1851
Check
1852
1745
1853
1748
1854
1777
c
1855
Check
Parent
No.
1910 yields In pounds.
Average yield 17 new sorts
Average yield checks
Actual average Increase. . .
Yield per
acre.
Check yield
per acre
estimated.
pounds.
pounds.
5280
5280
6720
5410
7000
5540
6680
5670
5800
5800
7680
6000
8320
6200
7600
6400
6600
6600
7440
6790
6040
6980
7640
7170
7360
7360
8200
7260
7280
7160
7600
7060
6960
6960
8000
7120
7240
7280
7520
7440
7600
7600
Road p
ut through
6520
7440
9200
7280
oat
7451 lbs.
per acre
6600 lbs.
per acre
851 lbs.
per acre
Gain In
yield.
pounds.
1310
1460
1010
1680
2120
1200
650
-940
470
940
120
540
880
-40
80
this plat.
-920
1920
1911 yields In pounds.
Yield per
acre.
Check yield
| per acre
1 estimated.
pounds. ' pounds.
Gain In
yield.
5400
6880
7760
7040
4000
8320
8080
7320
3960
7680
7160
7240
4320
8280
6920
6080
3600
8040
6280
5880
3440
5280
7360
3920
5400
5050
4700
4350
4000
3990
3980
3970
3960
4050
4140
4230
4320
4140
3960
3780
3600
3560
3520
3480
3440
3560
3680
3800
3920
7153 lbs.
4091 lbs.
3062 lbs.
per acre
per acre
per acre
pounds,
1830
3060
2690
4330
4100
3350
3630
3020
3010
4140
2960
2300
4480
2760
2400
1600
3560
d In the above table the column headed "Check yield per acre estimated" may need explanation.
The comparison of two plats grown side by side may not be fair, as the land changes somewhat even
In one rod. We desire to get as nearly as possible an estimated check yield for each plat of what the
check seed would have given If sown In that plat. Taking a specific illustration, in 1910, check plat
1831 yielded 5280 pounds per acre and the next check plat 1835 gave 5800 pounds per acre. Evidently
for this season the land is getting better as we proceed toward the second check, plat 1835. The dif-
ference between the two checks is 520 pounds. In every four plats there Is one check and one-fourth
of 520 pounds Is 130 pounds. Now if we add 130 to the yield of plat 1831 we get the estimated check
yield for plat 1832 which is 5410 pounds. Adding 130 pounds to this gives us 5540 the estimated check
for plat 1833. This will probably make the method clear. The correction number between each
two checks will obviously be a different number In most cases.
table it will be seen that in 1910 three of the new sorts, 1841,
1849, and 1863, produced less than the yields of their estimated
checks but that in the other cases the yields were much in advance
of the checks. In this year all of the 17 new sorts gave an average
96 American Breeders Magazine
yield of 7451 pounds per acre, while all of the check plats gave an
average yield of 6600 pounds per acre. The new varieties, even
including three two low yielders, gave an average increase of 851
pounds per acre.
In 1911, which was in general a less favorable season for timothy,
all of the new sorts showed substantial gains over the checks. In
this year the average yield of all of the 17 new sorts was 7153 pounds
per acre, while the check plats gave an average yield of only 4091
pounds per acre. The new varieties in this year thus gave an average
increase per acre of 3062 pounds, or over \% tons per acre.
The' reason for the decrease in the check plats in the second season
is clear to one who has followed this work. Ordinary timothy rusts
badly and owing to lack of vigor is comparatively short-lived. A
large part of the decrease is due to these causes, but it is also in some
measure due to the poorer season. On the other hand, the new vari-
eties are selected for vigor, rust resistance, and ability to stool, and
they would naturally increase in size for three or four years and would
gradually cover the ground more thickly. These varieties were
clearly cut down by the poor season, or they would have given a
better yield the second year than the first. Throughout this exper-
iment, which was made as uniform for every plat as possible, the
new varieties have clearly shown their superiority in greater height
and thicker development on the ground (see Plate V). It may be
stated furthermore that several hay dealers belonging to this Asso-
ciation who have visited the plats have stated without reservation
that the quality of hay produced by the new sorts, owing to the reten-
tion of a fresh green quality and leafiness, would be much superior
to that on the check plats of ordinary timothy.
What do these New Varieties Meant — It may seem surprising to
those unfamiliar with breeding that such striking results can be ob-
tained in so short a time. It is truly rather remarkable, but is in no
sense a greater increase than would be expected under the conditions.
When we remember that timothy is one of the most general crops
grown in the civilized countries of the world and that it has been
cultivated for about two centuries under very widely differing con-
ditions of soil and climate, we can see that every opportunity possible
has been furnished for the stimulation of variations. We now know
that a variation once produced is rarely lost in nature but usually
is added to the total character variations of the species. Through
many years and over millions and millions of acres, among countless
billions of plants, these variations have been accumulating, with
Webber: Timothy Breeding at Cornell
i
s
If
f
Si
1
8
is
If
98 American Breeders Magazine
no attempts to isolate them and use the best for the foundation of
improved races for cultivation. Is it any wonder then, that with
this accumulation of material by selecting the best variations we
get faces that yield nearly double the mixture of all sorts of types?
Suppose, for comparison, apples had not been bred for the last
two centuries and we had a 40-acre orchard planted with all sorts
of variations taken at random, including the worthless wild types
and all other sorts such as would have been produced in this period
of cultivation without selection. What would be the comparison
of value between the crop of such an orchard and the crop from a
similar 40-acre orchard planted with Northern Spy or any one of
500 of our good modern varieties? The crop from the unselected
varieties would in large measure be wholly unsalable in our modern
markets. Probably not more than one-sixth of the crop could be
sold for any purpose, and it is doubtful whether even one one-hun-
dredth of the crop could be compared with our modern sorts. If
we compare the results obtained in timothy, therefore, with a sim-
ilar illustration in apples, we can readily see that the timothy results,
as obtained in the experiments described above, are no greater, if
as great, as we might expect. Indeed the writer feels that only a
beginning has been made up to the present time.
Hay is among the three largest agricultural crops of the United
States, in total value of production. In 1910 according to the state-
ments issued by the United States Department of Agriculture there
were grown in the United States 45,691,000 acres of hay which yielded
a crop having a farm valuation of $747,769,000. No statistics are
available from which we can determine what proportion of this hay
was timothy, but the writer believes that we may safely conclude
that at least one-third of the entire hay crop of the country is tim-
othy. If this is true the timothy crop of the United States in 1910
had a, valuation of over $249,000,000. In the two years during which
tests have been made the 17 new sorts gave an average increased
yield of slightly over 36| per cent above ordinary timothy. A 36f
per cent increase in the valuation of the timothy crop as above esti-
mated would give us over $90,000,000 as the estimated annual gain
in the value of the crop which would be obtained if equally good
new sorts could be used throughout the country.
Such figures it must be remembered are simply estimates and
mean but very little other than to give us quickly a comprehension
of what such experiments under ideal conditions might mean to the
country. The writer would state very emphatically, however, that
Hayes: Methods of Corn Breeding 99
he believes it would be entirely possible to increase the yield of the
crop to this extent if it were possible to have every field of timothy
in the United States sown with the one of these new varieties best
adapted to the conditions. In New York, which is the largest hay-
producing state in the Union, and where these varieties have been
developed, their introduction into cultivation should result in a marked
increase in the average yield.
When can Seed of the New Sorts be Obtained? — For the next two
years it is probable that every seed of the new varieties available
will be grown to increase the supply. Every effort will be made to
get these varieties into the hands of growers at the earliest possible
date. While timothy increases very rapidly, a considerable period
must necessarily intervene before the seed will be available in large
quantities. The writer would request that growers do not write
for seed at the present time, as it cannot be supplied.
METHODS OF CORN BREEDING
H. K. Hayes
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn.
The purpose of this paper is to bring before the association some
further evidence to show that practical corn breeding does not at
present take advantage of its full possibilities.
We now recognize two main types of variation: the one which
is germinal and transmits its characteristics to later generations
and the other which is due to environmental conditions and is not
inherited. The type which is heritable is of most importance to the
breeder.
The excellent work of Johannsen, which has been corroborated
by many other investigators, shows that commercial varieties of
plants are composed of many types which by selection can be isolated
and which will breed true to type. These types have been called
" types."
The types of Maize. — The work of Shull and East shows that
any variety of corn is composed of many types. Further evi-
dence on this point has been obtained in the last few years at our
station in connection with a study of inheritance in maize. For
this purpose it has been necessary to use a number of inbred families.
The most interesting of these from the standpoint of biotypes in
maize are five inbred strains which originally came from the same
100 American Breeders Magazine
commercial variety of Learning. These types have been given the
numbers 6, 7-1 , 7-2, 9 and 12 respectively. No. 9 is a pure red-silked
form, but all the others have white silks. No. 6 and No. 9 are erect .
in habit of growth and have strong sturdy stalks, while the two 7
types and No. 12 are more slender in habit, being more easilyblown
down by the wind. No. 6 has a cylindrical ear, No. 9 a conical ear,
while both the 7 types have flattened ears. Nos. 6 and 9 have a
modal class of 16 rows, No. 7-1 a modal class of 20 rows, and No.
7-2 of 22 rows.
These data show that in certain characters these types have meas-
urable differences, besides others of course which cannot easily be
either described or measured.
These inbred types have differed also in their yielding capacity
and the average height of plants, as is shown in Table 1, which
gives the number of generations each has been inbred, the yield
in shelled corn figured to an acre basis and the average height of
plants in inches.
Hayes: Methods of Corn Breeding
101
Table 1. — Yields of inbred strains for 1911.
No.
*
Number of years
Inbred.
Bushels of ears
per acre.
Height of plants.
6
7-1
7-2
9
12
5
5
5
6
6
27.7
25.4
41.3
26.0
2.0
86.7
81.1
90.5
76.5
81.8
In 1911 these inbred types were grown on a level plot of land at
the experimental field but the season was so dry that the yields were
much less than those of a normal year. All gave fair yields, however,
except No. 12, which is a very poor yielding strain and can scarcely
live when isolated.
That continuous selection may eventually reach the same goal as
inbreeding is fast becoming evident. On the same plot of land with
the inbred types four selections were grown from seed kindly furnished
by Smith of Illinois. These were the Illinois erect, declining, high
and low ear strains. The high and low ear strains bred true to their
respective types. The main difference in the erect and declining
ear types, as has been pointed out by Smith, is in the number of nodes
to the ear shank. The yield of these four selections is given in Table
2, and averages about the same as that received from the inbred
varieties previously mentioned.
Table 2. — Yield of Illinois selections grown in Connecticut.
Illinois strains.
High ear
Low ear
Erect ear
Declining ear
Number of years
selected.
7
7
6
6
Bushel per acre.
26.2
18.8
32.6
42.9
That the same results can be more quickly reached by hand polli-
nation than by continuous selection is confirmed by two strains of
white rice pop which the writer has been able to isolate from a com-
mercial white rice pop variety in two years by hand pollination. One
of these strains has a very short ear shank and erect ear, while the
other has a much longer ear shank and a declining ear. These strains
appear more uniform than the Illinois erect and declining ear selec-
tions.
Effects of Inbreeding on Corn. — There is an old idea that inbreeding
decreases vigor and will eventually run out a race , but the accumu-
102 Amekican Breeders Magazine
lated evidence so far of the effects of inbreeding in corn does not show
such results. The facts of the case seem much better stated by
saying that Fi hybrids between two different types are as a rule very
vigorous; that inbreeding does not run out a race but isolates bio-
types and that some biotypes can scarcely live unless in a state of
hybridity. This may seem like stating the same thing in two dif-
ferent ways, but attention is called to the fact that in the latter case
the type after being isolated will not be further affected by constant
inbreeding.
Crosses between Biotypes. — The fact that a cross between two dif-
ferent types is very vigorous in the Fi generation has been alluded to
by many scientists. Darwin in his Cross and Self-fertilization in
the Vegetable Kingdom gives many examples of such increased vigor.
Mendel, the discoverer of the only known law of heredity, mentions
the fact that a first generation hybrid between two of his sweet pea
types grew more vigorously and to a greater height than either parent.
In two crosses between tobacco varieties which the writer has
observed, the Fi generation for all characters studied except the
number of leaves per plants showed an increase in vigor due to the
crossing. With cigar wrapper tobacco, however, quality is the
important factor and Fi crosses do not give as good quality as the
parent types.
With corn, however, the important thing from a practical stand-
point is total yield in bushels of ears and tons of stover per acre.
Reasoning from this standpoint, three writers published articles
in 1909 suggesting that some method for utilizing the added vigor
due to crossing should receive commercial trial. Shull and East
from their studies of inheritance in maize concluded that some method
whereby only first generation hybrids be grown for the commercial
crop would prove of advantage and materially increase the present
yield of corn per acre.
Many examples have been collected by Collins of the Department
of Agriculture showing that, as a rule, the F x generation crosses of
corn prove better yielders than the parents. Some crosses do not
prove beneficial, however, and it seQms important to determine the
reason for this.
Reciprocal crosses were made in 1910 between the inbred types
shown in Table 1 and this year were grown on a level plot at our
experimental field, the results being given in Table 3. In this table
the female parent comes first and a cross between No. 6 and No. 9
is written 6X9. A row consisting of 79 hills, 3 stalks to the hill,
Hayes: Methods op Corn Breeding
103
was used for each cross. As has already been mentioned, the season
was unfavorable and the dry weather materially decreased the yield;
however, all crosses had an equal chance. All crosses gave large
increases in height over the inbred types, but some were more pro-
ductive than others.
Table 3. — Reciprocal crosses.
No.
•
Bushels of shelled corn
per acre.
Height of plants In Inches.
6X7-1
75.6
111.4
7-1X6
58.8
114.5
6X7-2
58.3
117.8
7-2X6
57.7
6X9
31.6
109.3
9X6
37.3
109.
6X12
10.2
115.4
7-1 X 7-2
41.3
103.7
7-1X9
51.5
111.8
9X7-1
46.2
107.4
7-1 X 12
16.9
•
7-2 X 12
63.5
114.7
12 X 7-2
76.9
114.0
9 X 12
3.6
103.6
It should be noted that the selections 7-1 and 7-2 are very similar
and were isolated from strain No. 7 after it had been inbred for three
years. A study of the previous table tends to confirm the following
facts.
(1) Reciprocal crosses are equal within the limits of fluctuating
variability. This fact shows that we are dealing with very nearly
pure biotypes.
(2) All crosses between pure biotypes are not beneficial. Note
the crosses between 6 and 12 and 9 and 12 which are poor yielders.
It is interesting to note that these crosses had as one parent a type,
No. 12, which in a state of self-fertilization was scarcely able to live.
(3) Crosses between nearly related types show little benefit from
crossing. 7-1 X 7-2 only gave a yield of 41.3 bushels, the same
yield as received from No. 7-2 when self-fertilized.
(4) Some crosses are much more vigorous than others. Reciprocal
crosses between 6 and 7 and between 7 and 9 are good combinations.
104 American Beeeders Magazine
Nos. 6 and 9 are without doubt more similar in characteristics than
7 and 6 or 7 and 9.
It seems very probable that those types which differ in the greater
number of characteristics will prove, as a rule, the better for cross-
Fia. 1.— Outer eats Inbred one generation. Middle ear result of tlrnlr crossing, first generation.
ing. It should be recognized, however, that poor genotypes should
be eliminated by selection.
Comparison of F j and Ft Generations. — Two comparisons of the
yield of Fi and F 2 generations of biotype crosses were made in 1910.
The Fj generation of a cross between a dent and flint type yielded at
Hates: Methods of Corn Breeding 105
the rate of 105.5 bushels per acre, while the Fj generation grown on
the same field produced only 51.5 bushels. The Fi generation of a
cross between two Learning strains produced at the rate of 117.5
bushels per acre, although the F2 generation yielded only 98.4 bushels.
These data show that the greatest stimulus to development from
crossing two distinct types is obtained only in the first hybrid gener-
ation. This necessitates making the cross each year. The expla-
Fio. 3.— The middle earta the result of an Immediate en
nation of the decrease in vigor in the second hybrid generation is
exactly the same as the explanation of the apparent deterioration
when com is inbred. Both are caused by recombinations of char-
acters among which some "pure type" individuals are obtained.
In inbreeding the apparent deterioration is more marked because
the percentage of such individuals is likely to be much greater.
106
American Breeders Magazine
Crosses between Varieties. — Whether crossing of pure biotypes
will prove of greater value than crosses between highly selected vari-
eties is as yet an unsettled question. Many of our corn varieties
have been grown for long terms of years under the same conditions
and have been gradually selected to some type. Crosses between
such varieties give, as a rule, increases in the Fi generation. The
following table gives the results received at our station and shows
that Fi generations are usually more vigorous than the parents.
The first two crosses of this table were grown in 1908 and the
remainder in 1911.
Table 4. — Crosses between varieties and their parents.
Selection.
Longfellow Flint
Illinois High Protein t
Cross
Stargis Flint
Illinois High Protein
Cross
Conn. Top Over Flint
C. T. O. X Canada Flint
Woodbridge's Canada Flint
W. C. X Watson's White Flint. . . .
R.I. White Flint....
R. I. W. X Mammoth White Flint
Stadtmueller's Learning
S. L. X Reld's Yellow Dent
Brewer's Dent
B. D.«X Early Dent
Longfellow Flint
Longfellow X Ives
Ives X Longfellow
Ives Flint • ■.
Yield In bushels of shelled
corn per acre.
72.0
121.0
124.0
48.0
121.0
130.0
58.3
65.3
72.9
80.0
62.2
69.3
75.7
99.9
77.6
94.7
60.5
69.1
63.5
69.5
The varieties used in the above table are, as a rule, very pure to
type. It will be noted that in some cases only one parent is given.
This is due to the fact that these crosses were made by Connecticut
farmers and seed could only be obtained from one parent. Where
the cross has been grown both at the station and by the farmer who
made it the average of the two tests has been used for comparison.
Hayes: Methods op Corn Breeding 107
Summing up the crosses given in the above table and where both
parents were grown, using the better yielding parent, we find that
the average yield of the parents is 82.3 bushels per acre, while the
average yield of the Fi hybrids is 91.0 bushels. Thus we have an
average increase of 8.7 bushels per acre for the crosses.
As the crossing of two corn types is such an easy matter and can
be done on any farm it seems very desirable that further <
HighProtelnDeat. Thetwooc
should be made to determine, if possible, what varieties are the
most valuable to use as parents.
Conclusion. — The utilization of Fi hybrids in corn breeding will
materially increase the corn yield.
Selection is of importance in isolating the better types and ridding
the variety of the poorer types.
The highest yields of corn will be received from carefully bred
selections which when crossed prove the most vigorous combinations
by actual test.
108 American Breeders Magazine
literature cited
Collins, G. N.
1909. The Importance of Broad Breeding in Corn. Dept. Agr. circular.
1910. Increased Yields of Corn from Hybrid Seed. Dept. Agr. Year
Book, pp. 319-328.
East, E. M.
1909. The Distinction between Development and Heredity in Inbreeding.
Amer. Nat., 43, 173-181.
East, E. M. and Hayes, H. K.
1911. Inheritance in Maize. Conn. Exp. Sta. Bull. 167, 1-142.
Hayes, H. K., and East, E. M.
1911. Improvement in Corn. Conn. Exp. Sta. Bull. 168, 1-21.
JOHANNSEN, W.
1909. Elemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre. Jena. Fischer. Pp.
1-515.
Shull, G. H.
1909. A Pure Line Method of Corn Breeding. Amer. Breeders' Report,
iv, 296-301.
1911. The Genotypes of Maize. Amer. Nat., 45, 234^252.
Smith, L. H.
1910. Increasing Protein and Fat in Corn. Amer. Breeders' Report, v.,
5-11.
THE BREEDING OF WINTER BARLEYS
H. B. Derr
Washington, D. C.
History of the Work. — The work in cereal breeding in the Depart-
ment of Agriculture was inaugurated a number of years prior to the
establishment of the office of grain investigations, which now con-
ducts that line of work. The breeding work was first established at
Garrett Park, Md., in 1895, by Mr. M. A. Carleton, the present
cerealist of the Department of Agriculture, and consisted princi-
pally in the production of disease-resistant strains of cereals. A
few years later the work was transferred to the Agricultural Exper-
iment Station at College Park, Md., and in 1902, Mr. H. A. Miller,
formerly of this office, was placed in charge of winter cereal breeding.
In 1902 Mr. Miller planted 22 varieties of winter barley and in the
spring of 1903, 59 varieties of spring barley. This work he con-
tinued until 1906, when the writer became associated with the Office
and has since conducted the experiments and breeding work.
The negative results obtained with spring barleys by both Mr.
Miller and myself demonstrated the inadvisability of continuing
Derr: The Breeding op Winter Barleys 109
experimental work with them. It was clearly proven that, for the
South Atlantic States at least, climatic conditions were against their
successful cultivation, and since 1907 all our energies have been
directed toward the improvement of the winter barleys. In 1907, the
breeding work with cereals having assumed rather large proportions,
it was removed to the Department of Agriculture's experiment farm
at Arlington, Va., opposite Washington, D. C, and has since been
conducted there. In our efforts to produce better-yielding varie-
ties of barley we have succeeded, during the past four years, in chang-
ing 16 of the leading spring barleys, such as Chevalier, Hannchen,
etc., into winter forms (see illustration), and in several cases they
are outyielding the standard winter barleys, of which 29 are under
test. The breeding and testing of winter cereals occupied over 13
acres of space the past year.
Crossing of Barleys. — During the past seven years a number of
crosses have been made both by Mr. Miller and myself, and from
some of these crosses excellent practical results have been obtained.
110 American Breeders Magazine
As these results are to be published in bulletin form only a few of
the lesser details can be given here.
Several of the most important crosses were made before the writer
became connected with the work in 1906, consequently he knows
but little of the character of the mother plants. In 1907, among
the large number of variations produced, several attracted attention
owing to their peculiar plant characters. The plants from one selection
from the cross Tennessee Winter 9 six-rowed, with Black Arabian &
two-row were especially noticeable. Several plants produced heads
which, while they resembled two-rowed barleys, were not typical.
The median spikelets were fertile and produced plump, kernels with
medium long awns, while the lateral spikelets were nearly all infer-
tile with the exception of a few almost rudimentary kernels with
short, bristly awns. These small lateral kernels were selected and
planted in a head-row test, and the following year, 1908, produced
plants, a number of which bore heads similar to those of the year
previous but containing a much larger percentage of lateral kernels,
the majority of which were almost entirely awnless. These were again
carefully selected and planted in head-row tests, and in 1909 one of these
selections produced 16 plants on which the heads were entirely awnless.
Several other selections produced awnless plants but these strains were
later discarded. In the fall of 1909 the heads from each of these 16
plants were planted in separate rows for comparison. In 1910 only
three heads produced plants having bearded heads. These entire
strains should have been destroyed and future annoyance thus
averted. . In September, 1910, over five hundred head selections
were planted in the breeding plat and some interesting data are
being compiled relative to the height, number of culms, length of
head, etc., of the daughter as compared with the mother plants.
Seed of this awnless barley was distributed to a number of reliable
cooperators in the south in order to test the influence of environment.
Most of the plants bred true in 1911, but in a few cases the im-
pure blood of the 3 plants that showed traces of bearded characters in
1910 appeared among the plants. By means of an index system
adopted, the writer easily traced the record of the progeny from each
plant through each generation back to the mother plant, and all the
progeny from these 3 plants will be discarded.
It is believed that there is a great future for this barley. It stools
heavily, has stiff erect culms and gives all indications of being an
excellent yielding variety. Pedigreed seed of the awnless barley
has been sent to nearly all the experiment stations and farms in
Debb: The Bbeeding op Winteb Bablets 111
the northern states, with the request that it be sown next spring in
an effort to change it into a spring form. With careful selection
this is believed possible in 3 years.
The awnless hybrid was given a name and number and is now
known as Arlington Awnless Barley, G. I. No. 702. It was de-
scribed in Science, Vol. XXXII, No. 823, October, 1910, and the
type specimen and description deposited in the economic herbarium
of the Department of Agriculture at Washington.
Hull-less Hybrid. — A hybrid has also been produced between Mary-
land Winter and Hankau, a bearded hull-less spring barley. This
hybrid known as Hansee Hull-less, G. I. No. 703, has bred true for
two years, and is a hardy bearded hull-less winter barley. The
bearded hull-less barleys are adapted to the higher elevations of the
western and southwestern states. This seed is being distributed
wherever it is thought likely to succeed. Winter barleys generally
outyield the spring barleys and, in localities were they can be grown,
the quality is superior and the weight per bushel heavier.
Hooded Hybrid. — Owing to the fact that, with the production of
the Arlington Awnless barley, there were two distinct types of beard-
less barley, it was considered necessary to adopt another name for
the common beardless barley. As this variety was not entirely awn-
less, having a three-pronged, hood-like appendage, the name "hooded"
barley was proposed for it, the name "awnless" being restricted to
the Arlington Awnless barley. These names will be used by this
office in the future.
In the South Atlantic States hooded (beardless) barley is quite
popular, as it yields a highly palatable and nutrituous hay. In gen-
eral, this has been a spring-sown crop, with the result that only under
extremely favorable conditions can a crop of grain be produced there-
from. The necessity for a reliable winter form of hooded barley
was so apparent that crosses were made. After several years of
selection, the good qualities of one of the hybrids became apparent
and it was named Virginia Hooded barley, G. I. 648. The seed is
being distributed to reliable cooperators for further increase.
Standard Varieties. — There have been several standard varieties
of winter barley cultivated in the Atlantic and Southern States,
but, previous to 1900, little or no effort was made to improve them.
In 1900, the Tennessee agricultural experiment station began the
breeding of winter barleys, and in 3 years, wrought a considerable
change in yield and quality. This was about the time that Mr.
Carleton began the work at College Park. Excellent results have
attended the work of this office since that time.
112 American Breeders Magazine
Since 1907 a large amount of selected seed of winter barley has
been distributed. It may be thought that once having established
a pure race the work was done, but with such factors as planting at
the wrong time, or by improper methods, or last but not least the
mixing due to the traveling thrashing machine, pure races among
the farmers soon undergo decided changes and breeding and selection
must, of necessity, be done over again.
The three varieties of winter barley that have been selected are
Tennessee Winter, Maryland Winter, and Wisconsin Winter. The
first two are, without doubt, similar strains from the original winter
barley introduced by the early colonists many years ago. Our lim-
ited farm facilities permit only a small acreage of each variety, con-
sequently, when a hybrid or selection has by its increased yield or
improved plant characters demonstrated its superiority over the
standard varieties, the seed is distributed to reliable cooperators
over as wide an area as possible in order to test the influence of environ-
ment upon it, as well as to obtain a more rapid distribution of the seed.
In order to keep a line on the pure races, selections are made each
year and carried through the series from the head-row test planted
one year to the field test harvested four years later.
Reports received from cooperators located in different portions
of the winter-barley-producing area all indicate the superiority of
this selected seed. The two new hybrid barleys, Arlington Awnless
and Virginia Hooded, will no doubt still further increase the popu-
larity of the winter-barley crop owing to their freedom from beards,
the most objectionable character of barley. The high prices pre-
vailing the past few years have made barley an excellent money crop
but cultivation has been restricted, owing to the offensive beards.
In the United States are localities in which barley was formerly grown
extensively but where it is now only grown in small quantities. In
north central Texas large barley areas have been given over to other
crops owing to the fact that farm hands absolutely refused to handle
the barley crop. In eastern Tennessee the same condition prevails.
Even if the farmer is successful in harvesting his barley many of the
thrashing crews refuse to thrash the crop, owing to the beards. While
barley straw is readily eaten by cattle, farmers are afraid to use it
•
because of the injurious effect of the beards, consequently oats has
largely taken the place of barley in the southern states. The total
production of barley in the United States for 1911 was. 160,240,000
bushels which was over 13,500,000 bushels less than in 1910. It
is probable that if the experiment station workers and those inter-
Hays: Constructive Eugenics 113
ested in the production of barley in the northern states would take
this awnless winter barley, by selection they would change it into a
spring form, without injuring its present high-yielding qualtities.
If this were done, it would in a few years increase the total produc-
tion of barley in the United States 25 per cent, and put at least
$24,000,000 more in the pockets of the American farmers.
CONSTRUCTIVE EUGENICS
Willet M. Hays
Washington, D. C.
[Continued from First Quarter]
Let us then not have an open country of large estates manned
with a semi-peasant class nor with defective classes. Let us rather
have the family-sized farm, conducted by two or three workers, and
splendidly supporting the farm family, that we may have our best
heredity on the land. Let public money be freely used to supply
the farm families with good roads, splendid consolidated rural schools,
free delivery of mails, parcels post, and all kinds of informational
and advisory help, the most important of which is the consolidated
rural school. Let the state and nation in every way possible assist
the farmers and suburban residents to organize among themselves
those cooperative projects which enable them to carry on collec-
tively such selling, buying, and other functions as the individual
farmer and home maker cannot alone so well perform. And espe-
cially is there needed research and aid to make less burdensome the
duties of the mother. If ways could be found of successful cooper-
ation in doing the laundering, the baking, the canning of fruits, the
killing of stock and curing of meats, and other heavy work, the genet-
ically best mothers would have further encouragement to live on
the land.
In order that the cities as well as the country may be rejuvenated
every two hundred years, the eugenic slogan should be "the best
people on the land." And there are other similar weighty genetic
reasons for building up the suburban regions around about our
cities and towns. Here encourage the efficient people of the non-
agricultural vocations to live. And the public should provide voca-
tional schools for all youths, that when grown they may be able to
sustain superior homes. Low transportation rates for pupils to and
from vocational schools is an example of how the public can give a
114 American Breeders Magazine
chance to the youth of suburban families to become efficient. Let
the genetic burden be laid on the genetically efficient and give them
the means and the security under which they can efficiently perform
their task.
The Arithmetic of Mass Improvement. — To illustrate the fact that
the improvement of the human race by selection is not, after all, so
different from the improvement of animals or even of plants, some
arithmetical calculations are offered. Suppose, for example, that
we divide our nearly one hundred million people into three orders.
Let us place in the first order the genetically best one-fourth, whose
children will be the most efficient, and let these be represented by the
number 25. Let us place in the second order the genetically medium
in value, and let these be represented by the number 50. Then,
let us place in the third order the genetically least efficient, and let
them be represented by the number 25. Without assuming that
to be at present the correct number of individuals per family, let us
assume that if the second order, represented by the number 50, have
families averaging 3| in number, this will be sufficient to keep the
number intact, so that this 50 of medium genetic value will remain
constant at 50 for succeeding generations. Thus there will be two
left from the average family for parents of the next generation to take
the place of the two who served as parents of the preceding genera-
tion. The other 1\ of the average family will be sufficient to repre-
sent the number of infantile deaths, the number of non-married, and
the number of those married but having no children.
Let us now assume that the best one-fourth have families some-
what larger — say four children per family. By subtracting the l£ for
infantile deaths, non-marriages, etc., we have remaining 2\ with which
to produce the next generation where there were only the two parents
of the family the preceding generation. This is an increase of one-
fourth. By multiplying the 25 by 1 J, we have 31£ as the number in
the second generation. By continuing this multiplication by If for
twelve generations we have 364, while during this entire time the
medium one-half remains at 50.
Now, taking the 25 least efficient genetically, let us assume that
there is an average of only three children per family. Here, taking
out the 1£ for infantile deaths, non-marriages, etc., we have for the
next generation only 1^ instead of the two parents of the preceding
generation. This is a reduction of one-fourth, leaving each gener-
ation three-fourths as large as the last. Multiplying the 25 by f
we have in the second generation 17£. Continuing this multipli-
Hays: Constructive Eugenics 115
cation for twelve generations, we find that this 25 becomes 1, or
0.2 per cent of the whole.
Thus, in twelve generations, or practically 500 years, we have the
race made up of 87.7 per cent of the blood of the best one-fourth;
12.1 per cent of the blood of the medium one-half, and 0.2 per cent
of the blood of the least efficient one-fourth.
We need not assume that these percentages mean that values
would be worked out in exactly these proportions. The illustration
is only to show that even with such little differences as an average
of one more child per family from the genetically best families than
from the genetically least efficient families, the undesirable will grad-
ually become a smaller part and will give the field to the genetically
more efficient people.
If instead of four children per family for the genetically best one-
fourth we take five children per family and carry out the calculations
as above, at the end of five generations, or in two hundred years,
the proportions will be, in whole numbers, 410 from the best, 50
from the medium, and 6 from the genetically least efficient; or,
expressed in percentage, we have 88 per cent from the genetically
best 25, 10.7 per cent from the genetically medium 50, and 1.3 per
cent from the genetically least efficient 25. If anything like such a
ratio of sizes of the families from the most efficient and the least
efficient parents could be maintained, there would be a marked
increase in the efficiency of the network of descent in each period
of two hundred years, and this could not fail to produce marvelous
results in the inherent power of the people in the world.
With all of our studies of heredity we must not overlook the fact
that our schools, our churches, and our homes must so conserve
moral conditions that normal men and women may be fully devel-
oped, with their individual and genetic powers unimpaired as by the
racial poisons of alcohol and venereal diseases. In case of intem-
perance, for example, not only are men ruined by alcoholic beverages
who, in the absence of temptation, might be useful citizens and
efficient parents, but the impaired vitality which they impart to their
children and which they induce by neglect helps to perpetuate the
demand for alcohol as a stimulant during the succeeding generation,
if indeed, there may not be an actual acquired inheritance of the
desire for the specific stimulant. Eugenic pride based on genetic
genealogies may eventually greatly lessen the social evil and thus
reduce the moral and physical poisoning which is now so widely
prevalent. Those who might too critically regard the significance
116 American Breeders Magazine
of the figures above should understand that they are not to be judged
from what is commonly termed "mass selection, "such asthe selection
of seed wheat in the fanning mill. It is assumed that the selection
would here be genetic, which is not mere mass selection. The basis
for comparison in the selecting of individuals would be not so much
their individual excellence as the superiority of their genetic power
as determined by the average efficiency of their progeny, or as esti-
mated from average efficiency values of their coordinate relations,
as brothers, sisters, cousins, and also ancestors.
Some of our scientists who are creating new values by plant breed-
ing have in their plant nurseries hundreds of thousands and even
millions of individual plants so grown that each plant stands in a
hill by itself, each with its individual number. These technical
workers have wrought out plans of utilizing these individual plant
numbers as helps in determining the genetic value of each and any
plant. Thus they are able to determine in a given standard variety
of a given species, as of wheat, the plants which give the largest net
value per acre and produce the highest value in the market or in the
mill and bake shop, and they are able to find among these best plants
the progeny of the occasional mutation. Having found the new
mutating stock they can rapidly and readily multiply this into a
new and important variety. While such rapid results cannot grow
out of systematic efforts applied to the human family, results approx-
imately as rapid as those indicated in the calculations above might be
possible. In any event, it would seem quite as proper and important
that each person of the family in which we are interested should
have a numerical name as that each plant should be so designated in
the plant breeding nursery.
A name with eleven letters is not over long. The number 99,000,
000,000 has only eleven figures, yet in a series of numbers of that
size there could be individual number-names for each of sixty times
as many people as now inhabit the earth. At slight cost per
name the census bureaus of the world could place in such a single
series the number-names of every person now living, every person
of whom there is any history, and every person who might be born
in the next thousand years. Once instituted, such a system of
number-names would go on indefinitely and no two persons would
have the same number. If desired, a block of these numbers could
be allotted to each country. By exchanging their lists of names and
number-names the main bureau of each country would have the
Hats: Constructive Eugenics 117
completed series as entered up to date. At relatively small cost the
names and number-names of the parents of each person and the
number-name of each child born to each person could be added to
his own name, also birth and death dates and places, thus giving all
needed basic facts regarding his lineage, genealogy. These universal
world number-names could then be used in lineage genealogies along
with any system of family number-names desired, thus placing a
means of reference from each genealogical compilation to ^very other
similar compilation.
Private family bureaus, or even public bureaus, could request the
census bureau to give each person of their families a lineage number
in this world series. The interested family could then give to each
member a single number, usually in the form of a percentage, express-
ing the individual value of the general efficiency of the person.
In like manner a single numerical statement, as a percentage, could
be used to designate any marked characteristic, as ability in music,
or personal beauty, or tendency to obesity. Compilation of these
percentages into averages, as of progeny, or of coordinate relatives,
so as to give genetic ratings, also in a single numerical statement
as a percentage of individuals and of families, would follow the same
relatively simple bookkeeping or recording processes that are the com-
mon practice in plant breeding and in animal breeding.
Immense importance would soon be attached to these genetic
family ratings. Those families with high ratings would be made to
realize the importance of mating with those of equal genetic excellence,
and the more rapid multiplication of their numbers. The individuals
of these families would have a new incentive to gain high personal
ratings and to develop their children so that they might merit high
ratings, thus preserving and increasing the status of their families.
The families of the best genetic blood would be at a premium, especi-
ally among other families with high genetic ratings. Again speaking
broadly, the best one-fourth of the race would find the world expect-
ing of it not only success as individuals, but that the individuals
be multiplied more rapidly than the average. On the other hand,
the genetic facts concerning families with definite genetic defects or
with such indifferently low genetic efficiency that their members
cause public concern and expense, as in eleemosynary institutions,
should be publicly recorded. Marriageable members would not be
at a premium. The common thought of the people would not place
upon this class any large portion of the racial duty of multiplying
118 American Breeders Magazine
the race. They would properly feel that they had better bear fewer
children and give especial attention to providing good opportunities
for them.
It will be noticed in this discussion that differences are not drawn
between small families and large families, but between families some-
what above the average and families below the average. If objection
is made that genetic facts will throw society into classes, it must be
admitted that the classification will represent efficiency and will
not as a rule follow false or mischievous standards. In case of one
family where this number-name scheme is used in compiling both the
lineage genealogy and the genetic genealogy, many of the plans of
determining and displaying the genetic values are already being
devised. And doubtless ere long genetics will be showing the breeders
of plants and animals even more artful ways than they now have for
securing and making plain the genetic values of individuals and
families.
Looking at the city, the country, or the world, with its peoples
of pure and mixed races, and taking into view the fact that economic
conflicts will continue permanently after wars with arms may have
ceased, nothing stands out more clearly than the fact that races and
families must make their conflicts with large numbers as well as with
high averages of individual efficiency. Genetists will have much to
do in their study of hybrid races, and with the place of these races in
the conflicts among the races of the earth. When the genetist comes
to study the great migrations of the races of men, the relation of racial
make-up to the economic contests between countries and races, and
legislative efforts to avoid or promote the genetic mixtures of races,
he will find range for the highest possible wisdom and skill. It has
been predicted that neither plant breeding nor animal breeding will
eventually develop as highly trained genetists as will be found among
those who make a specialty of eugenics.
Genetic knowledge promises to have an important relation to
the cost of living and upon the life of the nation. It seems none
too much to hope that the science of eugenics will greatly lessen
the cost of our eleemosynary institutions, will lead to a better average
of efficiency, to the reduction of divorce, to temperance, and to a
higher morality. May we not hope that, in addition to increasing
the average of intelligence, efficiency, and happiness, eugenics may
lead even to a larger production of great geniuses and even to the
production of families of special-purpose people? Eugenics as a whole
will tend to produce sane, able, well-rounded characters, strong in
Laughlin: The Eugenics Record Office 119
their allotted tasks, and good citizens. Who, except the prudish,
would object if public agencies gave to every person a lineage
number and genetic percentage ratings, that the eugenic value of
every family and of every person might be available to all who have
need of the truth as to the probable efficiency of offspring?
AN ACCOUNT OF THE WORK OF THE EUGENICS
RECORD OFFICE"
H. H. Laughlin
Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.
After having been forgotten and ignored by science for thirty-five
years the re-discovery, twelve years ago, of the Mendelian laws of
inheritance strongly supported the revolutionary work of Weismann
then engaging the attention of those interested in heredity. This
combination of forces gave biology a new key to the mysteries of
inheritance and caused a renaissance in the study of experimental
heredity in plants and animals. Foremost among the workers in
this subject in America was Dr. C. B. Davenport, Director of the
Carnegie Station for Experimental Evolution. His work with
plants and animals had not proceeded far before human heredity
began to attract his attention. By the summer of 1910 he had col-
lected nearly three hundred records of family traits describing in con-
siderable detail the family distribution of some thirty specific mental
and physical traits. By this time the work had grown so greatly
in interest and promise that he was invited to organize and direct an
institution devoted solely to research in human heredity and its
application to human affairs. This institution, the Eugenics Record
Office, of Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York, was duly
organized, and as stated at the last meeting of this section by Octo-
ber 1, 1910 was ready for work. The family records collected by
Dr. Davenport <and referred to above formed the nucleus of the
files of the institution which are now growing at a satisfactory
rate. The functions of this office are (1) to serve as a clearing
house for data on human heredity and its application to human
affairs, (2) to build up an index of the American population in-
dexing families, traits and their geographical distribution with
special reference to sub-normal and super-normal characteristics,
a Read before the Washington meeting of the Eugenics Section of the American Breeders
Association at the Volta Bureau, Washington, D. C.
120 American Breeders Magazine
(3) to train field workers expert in gathering data of eugenic import,
(4) to maintain a field force actively engaged in collecting such data,
(5) to cooperate and to collaborate with persons and with other insti-
tutions concerned with human heredity, (6) to study authentic data,
thereby discovering the general laws of inheritance and the specific
manner of the inheritance of specific traits, (7) to aid and to promote
the organization of new centers for eugenic research, (8) to advise
concernirg the fitness of marriage unions, (9) to disseminate eugenic
truths to the end that society may proceed wisely to the application
of plans for the betterment of the human stock.
In the first training class — July and August, 1910 — ten persons
already advanced students of biology and sociology, were trained as
experts in collecting first hand data adequate to the needs of eugenic
research, and six of these were employed jointly by the Eugenics
Record Office and by other institutions. During the second year —
July and August, 1911, — another and somewhat larger group of
persons were given a similar training, and six more were added to
the staff of field workers, thus making the field force reporting di-
rectly to the Eugenics Record Office twelve in all. Several other
persons were trained during the year, but not in connection with
organized class routine, so that in all nearly fifty persons have been
given this special training by Dr. Davenport. The next train-
ing course will be given at the Record Office at Cold Spring Har-
bor, from June 26 to August 6. These twelve workers have been
gathering data on the family distribution of the following traits:
Feeblemindediiess, epilepsy, insanity, Huntington's chorea, crimi-
nality, juvenile delinquency, vagabondism, hare-lip, haemophilia,
cancer, albinism, and skin color. Special studies are also being
made in consanguinity, the eugenic import of isolated communities,
the old Mormon families of Utah, the present day descendants of the
old Juke family, the legal sterilization of degenerates in Indiana.
Besides, on these lines data on a host of other traits has been gath-
ered. This material is gotten at first hand in the home territories of
the families studied. The absence of a body of facts suited to the
intelligent application of Eugenic remedies makes this method of orig-
inal observation imperative. The field workers chart out as far as
possible the complete family network along all ancestral, collateral,
and consort lines. They spare no pains to secure an accurate family
network, and an equally accurate description of the inborn traits of
each member. The facts so gathered are indexed at the Eugenics
Record Office in accordance with a system devised by Dr. Daven-
Laughlin: The Eugenics Record Office 121
port, and recorded in the book of traits (Bulletin No. 6, Eugenics
Record Office, February 1912, C. B. Davenport). This index is an
expansive one, and is based upon the decimal system, quite the same
as the Dewey Decimal System for classifying books. The first
synopsis of traits is as follows:
0. General traits, 4. Mental traits,
General diseases, Movements.
Occupations. 5. Sense organs.
1. Integumentary System. 6. Nutritive system.
2. Skeletal system, 7. Respiratory system.
Muscular system, 8. Circulatory system,
3. Nervous system, Lymphatic system.
Criminality. 9. Excretory system.
Reproductive system.
All record is indexed on a sextuple system, with cards for each of the
following combinations: (1) surname-trait, (2) trait-surname, (3)
locality-trait, (4) trait-locality, (5) locality-surname, (6) surname-
locality, The purpose of this system is to permit investigators to
study traits and families and their geographical distribution from
the point of view any of these combinations. The efforts of this
office are directed toward indexing of all of the defective and sterling
germ-plasms of the American population. The making of such an
index is an immense task, and will demand the cooperation of many
persons and institutions, but its value in the practical application
of any scheme looking toward the cutting off of the defective strains
of the American population is obvious. But the field worker is not
the only source of data. Genealogical, biographical, and medical
literatures are being reviewed by the office with the view to extracting
data sufficiently biological and detailed in nature to permit of biolo-
gical deductions. Genealogical records contain, save for data on
consanguinity, longevity, and fecundity, but little material of value.
Town histories, on the other hand, are much richer from the Eugenic
point of view. Medical literature contains a considerable number
of authentic family networks, describing in detail the distribution
of certain traits and many valuable records have been gotten from
this source. The number of physicians and institutions cooperating
with the Record Office is gradually increasing. From these sources
many pedigrees are secured, but the most valuable records are those of
family traits which are still being secured from many splendid normal
American families. For this purpose duplicate blank schedules are
supplied by the Record Office, one for the files of the office, and the
122 American Breeders Magazine
other for the personal use of the collaborator. Besides this general
record of traits, several special schedules have been prepared. Up
to the present time these are schedules on (1) alcoholism, (2) hare-lip,
(3) musical ability, (4) mathematical ability, (5) Huntington's chorea,
and others are in the course of preparation. Any of these blank
forms will be supplied to persons interested upon application to the
Eugenics Record Office.
One of the most essential parts of the work of this institution is,
of course, the study of the data, thereby making it tell the tale
of the manner of the inheritance of specific traits. Here, as in other
realms of science, the criteria of truth is predicability . Eugenic
research seeks to answer this question: Given two parents of known
ancestry and collateral kin with reference to a given trait, how will
this trait be distributed among their offspring? Such work of reduc-
tion is essentially analytical or Mendelian. The mass of biometric
methods avail but little in answering this question.
All work of reduction is done either by Dr. Davenport personally,
or under his direction, jointly with the field worker, or jointly with
the scientists in charge of the research work of the collaborating
institutions. Thus far the following publications based in whole or
in part upon data gathered by Dr. Davenport or by field workers
trained as above described have been issued:
(1) Eugenics, C. B. Davenport (an elaboration of a lecture "Fit and Unfit
Matings"). Henry Holt and Company, 1910.
(2) Heredity in Relation to Eugenics, C. B. Davenport (the text book of
modern eugenics). Henry Holt and Company, 1912.
(3) Heredity of Eye Color in Man, Science, pp. 589, November, 1907.
(4) Heredity of Skin Pigment in Man, C. B. and G. C. Davenport. Ameri-
can Naturalist, vol. 44, November and December, 642-672, 705-731.
(5) Heredity of Hair Form in Man, American Naturalist, vol. 42, p. 341.
(6) Heredity of Hair Color in Man, American Naturalist, vol. 43, no. 508,
April, 1909.
(7) Bulletin No. 1, Heredity of Feeble-mindedness, H. H. Goddard. April,
1911.
(8) Bulletin No. 2, Study of Human Heredity, C. B. Davenport, H. H.
Laughlin, David F. Weeks, E. R. Johnstone, Henry H. Goddard. May, 1911.
(9) Bulletin No. 3, Preliminary Report of a Study of Insanity in the Light
of the Mendelian Laws, Gertrude L. Cannon and A. J. Rosanoff. May, 1911.
(10) Bulletin No. 4, A First Study of Inheritance in Epilepsy, C, B. Daven-
port and David F. Weeks. November, 1911.
(11) Bulletin No. 5, A Study of Heredity of Insanity in the Light of the
Mendelian Theory, A. J. Rosanoff and Florence I. Orr. November, 1911.
(12) Bulletin No. 6, The Trait Book, C. B. Davenport. February, 1912.
Laughlin: The Eugenics Record Office 123
Other publications are in progress including one memoir on the "Nam"
family, (a pseudonym given to a very inferior family in one of the
isolated communities of New York State), based on field work con-
ducted by Dr. A. H. Estabrook of this office, and another in which
certain epileptic and feeble-minded families of Massachusetts are
studied. This latter is based upon field work by Miss Florence H.
Danielson, also of this office.
Eugenic research naturally falls into three classes:
(1) The study of the sub-normal strains and the combination of
their traits into the types of the socially unfit.
(2) The normal classes and their traits.
(3) The super-normal classes and the traits of talent, special
skill, and genius.
After the modes of inheritance of a great many traits have been
worked but to a predicable nicety and many of the super-normal
and sub-normal germ-plasmfc of the country has been indexed, it
will doubtless be in order for society to devise some means of cutting
off the supply of defectives and of bringing sterling germ-plasms
together. Such efforts must, however, if intelligently directed,
follow, not precede, investigation. Schemes for social betterment
must, at first be experimental, but the safest experiments are doubt-
less based on the teachings of the greatest body of facts. Such a
body of facts applicable to eugenic remedies is just beginning to be
organized. The present program of eugenics is, therefore, research.
American Breeders Magazine
THE EFFECT OF RESEARCH IN. GENETICS ON
THE ART OF BREEDING
Herbert J. Webber
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.
(Continued fbom First Quarter]
Our different breeds of dairy animals are maintained in a state of
high productivity by continuous selection. Cows are followed care-
fully with reference to their milk-producing capacity and their ability
to transmit this quality to their offspring. The ability of bulls to
beget high milk-producing daughters is taken as a test of their value.
There can be no doubt, I believe, that this selection within the breed
maintains the breed in a state of high efficiency and is absolutely
necessary to the success of dairying. Strictly speaking, in the course
of this selection, however, no new type has been produced. It. is
well recognized that continuous selection is necessary to the mainten-
ance of high milk-producing capacity, and if the selection were dis-
continued the average milk production of any dairy herd would
rapidly decline until it reached the normal mean for the breed con-
cerned. The same can not be said, however, of the breed or race
characters, that is those characters which distinguish the breeds
or races from ether breeds. Selection is not necessary to maintain
the general characters of the Holstein breed, for, as long as it is not
crossed with other breeds, it will in general maintain its characters
so far as color, conformation, and dairy type are concerned. The
same may be said of any of our breeds of cattle and horses. The
high efficiency of our race horses is maintained by the most careful
selection and yet probably in most cases no distinctly new character is
added which would maintain itself as a unit character in inheritance.
It is true that we are dealing here with complex phenomena and
limited exact experimentation and a distinct mutant in the direction
of high efficiency might occur at any time and be chosen for breeding
which would maintain itself without continuous selection.
It is interesting at this point to recall one of the most common
differences between plant and animal breeding Which is seldom clearly
recognized by practical breeders. Plant breeders most commonly
strive to produce new races or breeds with distinctive characters
which will reproduce their desirable qualities without continuous
selection; while animal breeders almost wholly limit their attention
to selection within the breeds already established, to maintain them
125
126 American Breeders Magazine
in the highest state of efficiency possible. The failure to understand
this difference in purpose has frequently led to confusion in our
discussions.
It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the kinds of varia-
tion used in these different types of selection, even if we possessed
the requisite knowledge which is doubtful. I may be pardoned,
however, for digressing far enough to state that it is my conviction
that there is no very hard and fast line between that variation which
is in considerable degree inherited, such as is found frequently in
high milk-producing cows in selection within the breed, and the
mutation which gives absolute inheritance and established a perma-
nent new mode. The great difficulty in determining whether there
is any true cumulative action of selection which will extend a char-
acter beyond the limits of the race or species is met in determining
what are and what are not mutations. My experience has led me
to conclude that the continuous selection of maximum fluctuations
in a certain direction may in some cases lead to the gradual
strengthening of the character until finally it may become, more or
less suddenly, fully heritable, and it would then be recognized as a
mutation.
In many cases we find exceedingly small differences maintaining
themselves generation after generation under different environ-
ments when the lines of descent are kept pure. A marked illus-
tration of this is afforded by Mr. Evans' studies on pure lines of
Siellaria reported at this meeting. The segregation of such char-
acters in hybridization would be exceedingly difficult to recognize
if it did occur. Again the occurrence of such small mutants, if we
may so designate them, within a breed under selection, if not recog-
nized and isolated, would be crossed with fluctuations and cause
variations which would be recognized as regressions in the highly
selected strain.
I think it will have become clear from the above discussion that
in the present state of our knowledge of selection we can only advo-
cate that practical breeders continue their selections as in the past.
This is particularly true in the cases where it is the idea to maintain
the race or breed at its highest efficiency. In the case of plant
breeders working to produce new races, the mutation theory intro-
duces a new element and leads the breeder to search for a mutant
possessing desirable characters which he can isolate and which
he may expect will reproduce its characters as soon as he has purified
the type from mixtures derived through hybridization with other
Webber: Research in Genetics 127
types. He will select the type to purify it rather than to augment
its good qualities.
Returning again to the question of new characters, we may profit-
ably question more definitely where such new characters come from,
if they are not produced by selection. Clearly no problem is of
more importance to the breeder than to be able definitely to produce
or cause such new characters to appear. If the breeder must await
the pleasure of nature to secure the changes he desires, the waiting
may be long and tedious. If he must watch thousands of p!ants
of a certain race of species every year in order to find the apparently
accidental variation or mutation in the direction of the improvement
he has in mind which may rarely or never be found, the process will
be so hazardous that we should have to await the accidental dis-
covery of any new characters. Indeed up to the present time we
have had practically no other recourse than to await the accidental
discovery of such new characters. We, however, have had many
theorists and investigators who believed that changed environment
would stimulate the production of variations in the direction of
better fitting the organism to its environment. Lamarck and his
followers have strongly maintained this hypothesis and many sci-
entists even today believe in the effectiveness of environment in
developing adaptive changes. Breeders have carried this principle
so far as frequently to advocate the growing of plants in the environ-
ment most likely to produce the change desired, as, for instance, cul-
tivating tall plants like twining beans in the north or at higli altitudes
if it is desired to produce a dwarf type or, vice versa, breeding the
plants in the south and at a low altitude if a giant or tall type is
desired. Weissman and his school of followers have apparently
exploded this idea by demonstrating that characters acquired as a
result of changed environment are merely physiological changes and
are not inherited. The question, however, is by no means settled
and we must await further evidence.
Knight believed that increased food supply caused an increase
in the range of variation and that it was important for breeders to
manure their plants heavily. De Vries, on the contrary, would
have us believe that such variations are fluctuations and nonherit-
able. The studies of Weisse, Reinhold, MacLeod, Tammes, and
Love have given us many instances where the range of variation is
increased as a result of food supply and other instances where the
variation is apparently greater on poor or sterile soil.
It would seem that any treatment that would increase the range
128 American Breeders Magazine
of variation in plants that are grown for breeding purposes would be
valuable, but it still remains to be definitely proven whether such
increases in the range of variation are in any marked degree heritable
and whether valuable maximum variates can be more frequently
produced in this way than would be found in similar groups of plants
under ordinary treatment.
It is only very recently that the idea has developed that we can
go farther than possibly change the environment. With the publi-
cation of MacDougal's researches in 1906 describing mutations
that were apparently caused by injecting the capsules of plants
with certain solutions, such as zinc sulphate, magnesium chloride
and the like, a possible new method of forcing variations was intro-
duced. MacDougal apparently obtained, as a result of his treatments
marked variations which were inherited in succeeding generations.
Tower, by subjecting potato beetles during the formation of the
germ cells to extremely hot and dry or hot and humid conditions
with changes of atmospheric pressure, Was able to cause the develop-
ment of marked changes or mutations which were found to transmit
their characters true through several generations and which segre-
gated as unit characters following hybridization. He concludes from
his experiments "that heritable variations are produced as the direct
response to external stimuli. "
Gager has produced similar changes in plants by subjecting the
developing ovaries of plants to the action of radium rays, and a
number of similar studies by Hertwig and others indicate that radium
emanations have a very active effect on both plants and animals.
While the evidence favoring the value of such external stimuli as
the above in producing new heritable characters is apparently definite
and positive, the extent to which the method can be used in practical
breeding has not been determined and indeed we must await further
evidence before we can finally accept the evidence, or the interpre-
tation of the evidence, presented in these very valuable and suggestive
researches Dr. Humbert carried out experiments in my laboratory
in which the capsules of a pure line of a wild plant, Silene noctiflora,
were injected with the solutions used by Dr. MacDougal, and although
the number of plants handled (about 15,000) was apparently as great
or greater than was used in MacDougal's experiments, no mutations
were found in the treated plants which were not also found in the
untreated or check plants.
Some observations and experiments are recorded in literature which
indicate that mutilations or severe injury may induce the develop-
Webber: Research in Genetics 129
ment of mutations. Most noteworthy among such observations are
those of Blaringham, who by mutilating corn plants in various ways,
such as splitting or twisting the stalks, apparently produced varia-
tions which bred true without regression and which he described
as mutations. My own observations on the great frequency of strik-
ing bud variations on recovering trunks of old Citrus trees in Florida
following the severe freeze of 1894-5 also furnished evidence in sup-
port of this theory.
In general, it is assumed that in hybridization we are dealing
merely with characters already present and that new characters
which appear are due to the different reactions caused by new asso-
ciations of unit characters in their mutual effect on one another. It
is, however, possible that new unit characters may result from the
commingling of the different hereditary units which are to be con-
sidered as mutations rather than new combinations. As is well
known, Weissman long ago advanced the hypothesis that valuable
variations in evolution were due to the commingling of protoplasms
from different parents having different hereditary tendencies, a
process which he called "amphimixis." He did not have in view,
however, the formation of new unit characters as distinct from new
combinations.
' The most marked case known to me of the appearance of a new
character which was apparently caused by the stimulation of hybridi-
zation is the development of a marked spur or horn on the lip of a
hybrid Calceolaria (fig. 1). This occurred among a series of hybrids
between a herbaceous and a shrubby species made by Professor Atkin-
son and Mr. Shore, of the Botanical Department at Cornell University.
One or two tapering horns about an inch in length and from 2 to 4 mm.
in diameter at the base spring from the upper surface of the large
corolla lip and grow erect to its surface. No such character, so far
as can be learned, is known in the Calceolarias and it would seem to
have been caused by the hybridization. It cannot, apparently, be
considered as a combination of any of the known characters of the
species concerned.
Such apparently new characters appear rather commonly among
large batches of hybrids, and while there is little evidence available
on the subject I am inclined to believe it will be found that hybridi-
zation may stimulate the production of new unit characters, which
mendelize with the parental types.
While the evidence at our command regarding the artificial pro-
duction of mutations is not yet sufficiently exact and trustworthy to
130 American Breeders Magazine
enable us to draw definite conclusions and formulate recommen-
dations for practical breeders, it may be stated that this is appar-
ently one of the most profitable lines of experimentation for the
immediate future.
Thus far I have only incidentally discussed hybridization and the
advance of our knowledge in this direction. The scope of this address
will not allow of an adequate treatment of this subject and it appeared
wiser to discuss more in detail the problems of selection and varia-
tion. I cannot, however, close this address without referring to this
very important field of genetics.
No discovery in the field of breeding has had more effect or is more
far reaching in its importance than the discovery of what have now
flowers natural bIh)
come to be known as Mendel's principles of heredity. While, as
stated in the beginning of this address, breeders had long before the
rediscovery of Mendel's papers come to understand that there was
a segregation of characters in the Fj generation and that it was possible
to recombine in certain hybrids the desired characters from different
parents, there was no definite understanding of the underlying prin-
ciples, and no conception of the almost infinite possibilities of improve-
ment which the field of hybridization opened to us.
The law of dominance, while not universal, has explained many
cases of prepotency in one generation and failure of certain individuals
to transmit the character in the next generation. It has explained
Webber: Research in Genetics 131
many cases of latency of characters and may account for all such
cases.
The law of segregation has shown us that the splitting of characters
follows a definite method and that we can in general estimate the fre-
quency of occurrence of a certain desired combination, if we know
the characters concerned to be simple unit characters.
The study of hybrids has been resolved into a study of unit char-
acters and their relation to each other. By hybridizing related types
having opposed characters and observing the segregations which
occur in the later generations we analyze the characters of each type
and determine when we have a character pair. The researches on
this subject by Mendel, Bateson, Davenport, Castle, Punnett, Shull,
Hurst, Correns, Tschermak, East, and dozens of other now well
known investigators have developed a science of heredity of which
we had no conception a few years ago.
We can now study the characters presented by the different vari-
eties of a plant or of different species which can be crossed with it
and definitely plan the combination of characters desired in an ideal
type and can with considerable confidence estimate the number of
plants it will be necessary to grow to get this combination. We now
know in general how characters behave in segregation and inherit-
ance, so that we can go about the fixation of a desired type, when
one is secured, in an orderly and intelligent way.
The farther the study of characters is carried the more we are
coming to realize that the appearance of apparently new types fol-
lowing hybridization is due to recombinations of different units which
in their reactions give apparently new characters. As an illustration,
in a study of pepper hybrids which I have carried on during the past
four years, it has become evident that the form of plant and branch-
ing is due to three pairs of characters or allelomorphs, namely; (1)
erect or horizontal branches; (2) large or small branches; and (3)
many or few branches (fig. 2). In crossing two medium-sized races,
one with large, horizontal and few branches, and the other with small,
erect, and numerous branches, there results many new combinations
of characters, among which appear some with small, horizontal and
few branches, which gives a dwarf plant, and others will have a com-
bination of large, erect and numerous branches, which gives a giant
plant. These dwarfs on one hand and giants on the other appear
as distinct, new creations, though they are very evidently merely
the recombinations of already existing unit characters and dwarfness
132 American Bbeeders Magazine
and giantness are the results of the reaction of the different units
combined.
When we remember the large number of distinct characters which
are presented by the very numerous varieties of any of our cultivated
plants, we arrive at an understanding of the possibilities of improve-
ment which the field of hybridization affords, yet I doubt if many of
u.s have even then an adequate conception of the possibilities. Pos-
ScgrceaUon In second generation showing the segregation of different type* of branching.
sibly I may make this more clear by an illustration from my timothy
breeding experiments. While the various characters presented by
the different types under observation have not been carefully
studied in inheritance, the following characters can be distinguished
plainly, and, from observations on accidental hybrids, are known to
segregate. The following is a list of 28 such character pairs which it
is believed will prove to be allelomorphs:
Webber: Research in Genetics 133
Timothy Character Pairs
Heads : Culms :
Long or short. Tall or short.
Thick or thin. Thick or thin.
Dense or lax. Straight or wavy.
Greenish or purple when young. Erect or bent outward.
Gray or tawny when ripe. Green or purplish.
Simple or branched. Many or few.
Erect or nodding.
Continuous or interrupted. Nodes:
Apex blunt or pointed. Many or few.
Base blunt or attenuated. Green or brown.
Seeds large or small. Internodes long or short.
Leaves: Habit Characters:
Long or short. Lodging or nonlodging.
Broad or narrow. Rusty or rust resistant.
Erect or reversed. Early or late season.
Rolled or flat.
Clustered at base or extending to top of culm.
It is possible that some of these characters may be expressions of
the same unit, but in several cases they certainly represent several
different unit characters. For instance, in length of head, height of
culm, number of culms, and season of maturing, several different
degrees are certainly present which are fully heritable. Doubtless
there are. many more than 28 pairs of unit characters which could be
distinguished by careful study. If we have two pairs of characters,
such as tall or short and early or late, we know that 4 pure homozy-
gous combinations are possible. If three pairs are considered, 8
combinations are possible. Every time we add a different charac-
ter pair we double the number of different combinations that are
possible. Twenty-eight character pairs would thus give us as many
possible combinations as 2 raised to the 28th power, or the astonish-
ing number of 268,435,456. It would be possible then to produce
this tremendous number of different varieties of timothy if there was
any reason to do so, and each variety would be distinguished from
any other variety by one distinct character and would reproduce
true to seed.
The task of the breeder, then, is to find which among these character
combinations gives the superior plant for commercial cultivation. He
will soon eliminate certain characters as unimportant and concen-
trate his attention on those qualities that are essential.
134 American Breeders Magazine
It would be interesting to discuss the factor hypothesis, purity
of germ cell, sex limited inheritance, and other important problems
connected with inheritance studies, but I have already too severely
tested your endurance.
As breeders and genetists we have every reason to congratulate
ourselves on the rapid advance of our science and the growing recog-
nition of the importance of the subject in practical agriculture. Col-
leges throughout the country are extending their courses of study to
include genetics. In almost all of the experiment stations studies on
genetics and practical breeding are now given fully as much attention
as any other subject. With all of this advance, however, only in
a few institutions have there been established special professorships
or investigatorships in breeding or genetics. If the subject of genetics
is to be properly taught or the investigations are to reach the highest
standard, it is clear that men should have this as their special and
recognized field. The subject should no longer be assigned indis-
criminately to the horticulturist, agronomist, animal husbandman,
or dairyman. We must establish more professorships of genetics or
breeding.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE HEREDITY
OF FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS*
Dr. A. C. Rogers, Chairman.
Faribault, Minn.
Three institutions for the feeble-minded are employing field workers
and investigating the heredity of their inmates. Of these, the insti-
tution at Faribault, Minnesota, is the latest addition. The situation
there, at the time of writing this report, December 22, 1911, is as
follows:
EUGENICS RESEARCH WORK IN MINNESOTA.
The Minnesota legislature, during the session of 1911, made an'
annual appropriation of $5,000 for each of the two years ending Au-
gust 1, 1912, and August 1, 1913, for "clinical and scientific work for
the hospitals for insane, school for feeble-minded and penal institutions
The expenditure of this money is to be made under the direction of
the State Board of Control. This board appointed a committee to
a Read before meeting of Eugenic Section, Annual Meeting, A. B. A., Dec. 30, 1911.
Rogers: Heredity of Feeblemindedness 135
report upon the best method of procedure. The committee consisted
of Henry Wolfer, Warden State Penitentiary; Dr. H. A. Tomlinson,
St. Peter State Hospital, and Dr. A. C. Rogers of the School for
Feeble-Minded and Colony for Epileptics. The committee unani-
mously recommended that the initial work be started at the School
for Feeble-Minded and Colony for Epileptics and that one field
worker should be secured and started immediately. Miss Saidee
Devitt was employed upon the recommendation of Dr. Davenport,
secretary of the Eugenics section, and placed in the field in October,
1911. Up to the present time she has done the preliminary work on
25 cases, 6 of which have been carefully charted.
So far as the work has proceeded and a knowledge of what is pro-
posed has been disseminated, the reaction of public sentiment has
been sympathetic and favorable.
eugenics research work in new jersey
The State Home for Women at Vineland, N. J., has for somewhat
more than a year employed a single field worker who has investigated
about 40 cases from that institution. The results here, while not
yet summarized, show practically the same conditions as those to
be reported later from the Training School at Vineland.
At the Training School there' are still three field workers. The
results at the last summary were as follows: More than 11,000
individuals have been investigated and of these somewhat over 1,000
are feeble-minded. There are 22 with histories of criminal acts, while
3,000 or more are normal. There are 286 cases of tuberculosis, 180
cases of alcoholism, 31 epileptics, 114 sexually immoral and 19 histories
of syphilis. These results come from the study of the families of about
300 patients. About 65 per cent of the families investigated show the
hereditary taint. This material is being worked up for publication in
book form. The Mendelian indications will be carefully considered.
One family not included in the foregoing has been kept separate be-
cause of its peculiar character, the following results being shown:
The chart of this family shows over 1,100 individuals. There
have been 41 matings where both parents were feeble-minded. They
had 122 feeble-minded children, 25 unknown, 32 died in infancy, 4
died young, 4 miscarriages. Five matings without issue. Total
conception 189, or 4.6 per mating. Of these children 15 were alco-
holic, 1 tuberculous, 23 sexually immoral, 1 syphilitic, 1 epileptic,
1 criminal, 1 case of violent temper.
136 American Breeders Magazine
There are 8 cases where the father was feeble-minded and the
mother normal; the children being 10 normal, 10 feeble-minded, 8
unknown, 6 died in infancy, 1 died young; total 35. Average per
mating 4.3.
Twelve cases where the father was normal, the mother feeble-
minded. Children 7 normal, 10 feeble-minded, 8 unknown, 6 died
in infancy, 1 died young. Two matings without issue. Total num-
ber of children 32; average 2.6 per mating.
Both parents normal, 36 cases. Issue, 68 normal children, 13
unknown, 4 died in infancy, 3 died young. Four matings without
issue. Total 89 children; average 2.5 per mating.
Sixteen cases where the father is feeble-minded and the mother
unknown give 1 normal child and 24 feeble-minded, while 26 cases
where the father is undetermined and the mother feeble-minded
give 1 normal child and 32 feeble-minded.
There are many interesting things about this family and many
items of jgreat social importance. These are being prepared for pub-
lication and will soon be issued in book form by Dr. Goddard.
The cases in the Training School will soon have been covered in the
somewhat superficial way in which they have so far been gone over,
namely, for the main purpose of determining how many individuals
were normal mentally and how many were defective. As soon as
this work is completed the field workers will be employed to go over
the ground again and investigate each family much more in detail
to determine what traits that appear in the children were manifest
in the parents and grandparents, with the thought of determining,
if possible, what are the elements, the unit characters which taken
together constitute the complex subject for mental defect, provided
this is of itself not a unit character.
A method of making heredity charts which seems preferable to
that mentioned in Bulletin No. 2 of the Eugenics Record Office,
where rubber stamps were recommended, is in use at the Training
School. Gummed labels are used on cross-ruled paper; the paper
being ruled in blue, does not reproduce. These labels are prepared
by the Dennison Company and there is one for each symbol necessary,
viz. a square and a circle for normal, defective, and undetermined.
By means of these labels a chart is quickly made and when finished
is neat and accurate and ready for reproduction by the photographic
method. Anyone interested in this can obtain further details and
samples by corresponding with the Training School at Vineland,
Department of Research.
EDITORIALS
END RESULTS IN BREEDING
On the whole substantial progress is being made both in the sci-
ence and in the practice of breeding. Every person who is studying
the laws of heredity, or is breeding plants, or animals, or is consider-
ing practical plans for the genetic betterment of man has his or her
own bent. Each has his own viewpoint as gained by his preparation,
study, and experience as to how to proceed in the phase of the subject
which he has chosen to pursue. But all of us need occasionally to
assume the position of the aviator and from a wide angle of vision
let our minds discern which are the really large phases of the subject
in which we are interested. The investigator and the breeder alike
need to have their minds set upon the high points in the form of the
end results. The goal of research is a constant addition to the
scientific and usable knowledge of the subject. The goals of the
breeder are improved forms, the increased value of which is clearly
manifest.
The American Breeders Magazine has its peculiar niche to fill. One
of its goals is to help hold the genetic workers to the task of rounding
up results. The scientist in many cases, needs to be encouraged to
be practical. It is better for his work and better for science that
he follow one vital thing to a real conclusion than that he skim the
surface of a wide range of subjects. In no branch of study is it more
necessary to so repeat observations, and to study the subject from
every conceivable angle, that true and broad generalizations may
be made, than where living protoplasm is concerned. This being
true, the investigator should use care and wisdom in choosing problems
the solution of which is worth the effort. He should get close to the
breeders that he may know their problems. He needs to do his
research work in view of the use which may be made of his results;
just as the inventor of a machine needs to know the condition under
which his invention is to be used. He should be prepared to bring
his labors down to the form of practical end results, useful both to
science and in the practice of breeding.
In like manner the creative breeder — the person who is trying to
produce a species, variety, breed, or strain superior to the available
foundation stock — needs to have in mind a definite result. Here again
the world will be vastly more enriched by the addition of one real
acquisition in the form of a new strain, variety, or breed than by
indifferent improvements in each of several species. The need is
137
138 American Breeders Magazine
not so much that the breeder shall have in mind the exact detail of
the newly-formed variety or breed, but rather he should plan that
the new form shall better meet a given definite purpose. Those
who have passed through the experience of separating out the muta-
ting networks of descent from standard or hybrid foundation stocks,
as of wheat, cotton, corn, swine or poultry, and have carried some
of these improved varieties or breeds to successful commercial use,
know full well that a broadly practical system of selective testing
places in the lead those strains whose heredity proves to give the
largest value per acre, per animal, per herd or per flock, somewhat
regardless of our earlier ideals. We cannot always engraft all of our
ideas of form, color, or other desired character on the successful
strain. We must carry to commercial use that which under our, at
best crude selection, will best serve the farmer or other producer.
The writer gained a general view of the problem of plant and animal
breeding by employing a few dozen species.
There was need of a Burbank to give the world a zest for the inter-
esting side of breeding and much inspiration has come from him
because of the wide range of species he has employed. But the great
majority of investigators will accomplish vastly more by confining
their efforts to a restricted field or to a problem in which there is
need of definite knowledge while the degree of improvement a breeder
makes will in the long run not depend on the large number of species
he undertakes to improve. And the creative breeder also should
generally confine his efforts to one or to a few species. If Burbank,
for instance, had spent all his efforts during the last half of his plant
breeding activities, in the improvement of let us say potatoes, walnuts,
and plums he would probably leave a vastly larger economic result,
with a more lasting impulse to breeding than even have been his
widely known results with many species.
Creative breeding is a long-time proposition and the public, and
especially public boards of directors in charge of such work, should
be very sure that lack of results, if such is complained of, is really
the fault of the worker, before thinking of changing employees.
Sometimes results come only after long efforts, and here especially
is good work always cumulative. It is a waste to support a worker
through a long period of preliminary training, and of accumulating
and testing of foundation of stocks and of analyzing unit characters
of foundation material, and then to change to a new worker. What
is needed is more workers, and closer division of labor, more attention
given to the improvement of individual species.
Editorials 139
The possible end results of breeding are of such vast importance
that the improvement of the heredity of living things is gradually
gaining the status of a recognized public problem of large magnitude.
Departments of agriculture and state experiment stations are slowly
but surely gaining a strong hold upon the subject of plant breeding.
They are slower in undertaking at public expense the genetic improve-
ment of domestic animals, but in such efforts as have been made, no
backward steps have been taken. And the vision both of possible
practical plans for creative breeding, and of the immense economic
results possible to achieve in the end, is gradually widening on the
part of these institutions.
One of the least effective parts of our breeding work, with both
plants and animals, is the testing of the final product offered to the
grower for commercial work. There is not a sufficient number of
testing stations determining the comparative values of field, fruit,
garden and forest crops, and giving to the growers of each locality
accurate information, which variety will under given conditions
yield the largest net returns, or best meet any specific requirement.
The producers of live stock are in the dark as to the relative values
of breeds and families of farm animals. It is safe to say that a billion
dollars more crops and live stock products would result annually if,
for the past thirty years, we had been spending publicly under scien-
tific direction a million more than has been spent privately, in testing
varieties of plants and breeds of animals. The growers are not free
of blame, because they are so often indifferent to proof of excellence
or inferiority.
But the burden of this work is shifting to the public.
Like many problems, this comes back to a matter of education,
and eventually it will pass into the hands of trained men who will
create and secure the equipment and will assure the end results.
The American Breeders Association's leadership through its committee
on pedagogy of genetics, has done some valiant service in bringing
attention to the need of trained men and to the methods of develop-
ing this as a college and school subject. Prof. Arthur W. Gilbert
of Cornell University, the chairman of that committee merits wide
cooperation from persons interested in this line of education. There
are needed text-books of collegiate grade for those preparing to be
teachers, investigators, and creative breeders. Other text-books
are needed for agricultural secondary schools and consolidated rural
schools. And once that subject is more thoroughly developed may
we not hope to have text-books on eugenics? The new literature of
140 American Breeders Magazine
genetics is so far largely in bulletin and report form; new manuals
and texts based on recent research are just beginning to appear.
The promise is that this vigorous new science of genetics will ere long
forge into a most vital place as both an economic and a culture sub-
ject in our educational system.
While there is every reason for our public departments of agricul-
ture and agricultural experiment stations to take the lead in placing
the science of heredity and the breeding of plants and animals on a
strong basis, a large part of the work rests on the shoulders of the
farmer. The producer of plants and animals in the aggregate deals
with millions of individuals, at any rate with more than the experi-
ment station researcher and breeder. On this account, and also
because the grower deals with the individual plants and animals
from their birth to maturity, mutating individuals may oftenest
be found in commercial fields, gardens, orchards, and forests, and in
the herds and flocks of the farmer and stockman.
THE INTRODUCTION OF ANIMALS
The United States Department of Agriculture has developed a
world famous organization for the introduction from all countries
of plants which promise to be useful under the varied conditions of
this country. There are reasons why similar activities have not
been so well developed in the introduction of animals. In the first
place, there are relatively fewer domesticated breeds of animals in
the world, as compared with the number of domesticated varieties
of plants. Then, also, there was a vastly greater number of species
of plants than of animal which in their native state were especially
useful to man. Furthermore, the animals had a will to remain wild,
an instinct to resist being restricted to one place, and so the process
of domestication had to be an entirely different one. On the other
hand many species of plants were at once ready for the garden or
field and finding better conditions under care by man throve better
than in the fiercer competition in the wild.
The introduction of animals has been left almost wholly to private
enterprise. The excellence of the great breeds of cattle, horses, sheep,
and swine of the British Islands and the nearby countries of west
Europe made possible a profitable business for importers of pedigreed
stock. And this field of animal introduction has therefore been
fairly well covered. The economic results from the importation of
Editorials 141
these improved breeds have been very large. We owe a debt of more
than gratitude to the breeders of England, Scotland, the Channel
Islands, France, Holland, and other countries. And by purchasing
of their most popular strains we have paid large sums on this debt.
Some of the fancy prices we have paid have been for animals better
in individual appearance than in genetic ability to project their quali-
ties into their progeny. But withal, in case of practically all breeds,
our importers have secured a portion of the blood of nearly every
long selected or mutating strain of peculiar excellence in the countries
named, and while we shall continue to import portions of any newly
originated strain of peculiar excellence which may arise in these breeds
we already have as good or better foundation stock as have the
farmers of the districts in which the respective breeds originated.
In fact, in many cases, as in Holstein and Jersey cattle, in Percheron
and Clydesdale horses, in Merino and Shropshire sheep, and in Berk-
shire swine, we have a larger number of the really useful animals of
the breed, than has the old country. Our larger numbers, the won-
derful scope of our domestic market, both for live stock products and
for pedigreed stock, are great advantages which should enable our
breeders to keep in front of the breeders of the old country as to
intrinsic quality. On the other hand, we lack in the way of live
stock keepers who will so nurse to perfection the individual animal
and the choicest herd of the breed, as will some of our brethren in
England or Scotland, for example.
Our rising agricultural science and education promise to give us
the needed technique, the skill in the care of animals, and withal
the ambition to create from our present grand foundations vastly
better breeds. And why should not our rich live stock land become
the great scientific breeding center from which to supply at good
prices choice pedigreed stock, as England and her neighbors have so
long supplied the best breeding stock to nearly iall other countries?
In addition to the continued.introduction of the best foreign breeds
we already have, there is need of the introduction of other species
and breeds. A case illustrating this point is the recent introduc-
tion into Texas of the Karakul sheep, to be used in hybridizing with
our common breeds in producing first generation hybrids for their
fur-like fleeces. Even a more striking case is the introduction by
Mr. Borden into Texas of the Brahma breeds of cattle of India which
are resistant to Texas fever, and inhospitable to the cattle tick which
carries that disease. These cattle are to be produced as pure breds,
and to be used in hybridizing with our native cattle. Both the pure
■-sx^irT-
142 American Breeders Magazine
breds and hybrids produce live stock products in the tick-infested
South more economically than do the cattle of our other breeds which
originally came from the moist, cool climate of west Europe. Mr.
Borden f ound numerous breeds of cattle in India, and in his introduc-
tion of thirty head he could hardly have secured the strains of the
several breeds which are best adapted to the respective conditions of
our varied southern climate and agriculture. He has simply proven
that India has breeds of cattle with certain heredity characters which
produce rapidly-developing, large beeves in the presence of and quite
indifferent to the cattle tick and the fever with which it infects Here-
ford, Shorthorns, and other European breeds.
Argentina has a breed of horses which had its origin in part in
Morgan blood from our own Vermont, which might prove a valuable
aid in the efforts now being made at producing a more valuable Ver-
mont Morgan breed. Australia has in her Illawarra cattle a strain
of milking Shorthorn blood which Minnesota should at once seek in her
^efforts at producing a really efficient dual-purpose sub-breed of milk-
ing Shorthorn cattle. East Europe is developing breeds of live stock
of which we should know in detail. Here we may find breeds useful
in their purity, or more likely bearing one or more unit characters
needed in creating new breeds for our own use.
Our government needs men highly trained in genetic work and
experienced in the breeding of each species and even of each breed;
men who know the stocks of the given species or breed throughout
the world. They should be familiar with Mendelian characters of
the species or breed, its peculiarities, breeding, and the economic
value of its strains and families. These men should have advisory
and official relations to such breeders as are seriously endeavoring
to create new strains and breeds of higher intrinsic value. Such men
with an opportunity to aid in the general superintendence of many
"breeding circuits" to improve various breeds, as noted in No. 1,
Vol. Ill, of the Magazine, would become highly experienced in intro-
ducing needed new species and in placing them in their proper niche
in our agriculture, to be used either as pedigreed breeds or as the
partial basis of new hybrid breeds. By the successful making of new
hybrid varieties, our plant breeders ere long will have gotten animal
breeders over the theory that no new breeds shall be created. Then
there will be no more prejudice to the mixture of the heredity of
breeds in making new breeds than to the mixing of paints in making
new pictures. On the other hand the indiscriminate mixing of breeds
Editorials 143
will be more discredited than now, though the use of first generation
hybrids will in many cases be adopted.
Then there is the need of introducing some species now wild. Some
of the animals for which we might find use in stocking our extensive
mountain pastures for instance, are certain species of small deer.
We are in need of fur-bearing animals for our northern unused islands;
birds which will thrive in our forests, and fish which might be more
prolific in some of our streams and open waters than the species now
inhabiting them.
Furthermore our fellow breeders in other countries will not be
asleep in genetics and leave the field wholly to us. They will im-
prove present breeds; will utilize first generation hybrids; will con-
tinue to form new hybrid breeds, and they, as well as we, will develop
refined methods of determining and recording genuine genetic merit.
We can find a large amount to do in keeping up with introducing
their further improvements. They will bring into domestication
more species from the wild and we shall need to secure superior sam-
ples of these newly tamed stocks.
The science of stock breeding, following the awakening in plant
breeding and in eugenics, is rubbing its eyes; it is yawning, and is
showing lively signs of the marvelous awakening of which it is capa-
ble. The editor remembers the apathy with which live stock breed-
ers, and even teachers of animal husbandry, only several years back,
looked upon the proposition to join the plant breeders in developing
the American Breeders Association and its publications. The change
in attitude has begun, and the time is ripe for a world survey of the
network of animal descent which we need in our business as a nation
in the production annually of four billion dollars worth of live
stock which should soon be six billions.
NEWS AND NOTES
POSSIBILITIES OF ACCLIMATIZING SOUTH AMERICAN BIRDS AND
MAMMALS
Recently I made a journey from Punta Arenas on the Straits of
Magellan to the borders' of Paraguay, noting with pleased interest
the animal life of Patagonia, Argentina, and Uruguay. It seems to
me that there are animals and birds in temperate South America that
would thrive with us and should be given opportunity to naturalize
here.
The South America ostrich lives nearly to the Straits of Magellan
or did before men became so abundant. It is yet found far down
in the snowbelt. It is common enough in Chubut where the climate
is much as we have it in western Colorado. This ostrich is of the
easiest breeding. In the fenced pastures it increases rapidly and
seems quite hardy and healthy and very tame when not hunted.
In Kentucky, southern Missouri, in Maryland, Virginia, and all the
south country ostriches should thrive in pastures. They might
afford a substitute for our turkeys, now often so difficult to rear. I
saw many ostriches in villages, tamed and the pets of the peons,
this in northern Argentina, and was told that they came from eggs
carried in and hatched in the villages, under blankets. They are
said to be fair food if eaten before they become mature, but tough
eating when they are old. Their feathers are valuable for making
into feather dusters. This hardy, interesting bird should appear
in the parks of our wealthy cattle and horse breeders from Washing-
ton to Texas, where probably the most congenial climate would be
found. In times of deep snow ostriches would no doubt need feeding
with us. There would be not the slightest difficulty in introducing
ostriches, since their eggs could be sent north,making the voyage in
twenty-one days, hatched here with ease and reared more easily than
turkey chicks.
There is a little bird that I. am told belongs also to the ostrich family,
the perdice. It is larger than our quail, perhaps twice as large,
with a longer neck. It runs and seldom flies. It is very neat and
pretty and is a very favorite game bird. It is often caught by riding
it down and snaring it with a noose at the end of a stick. This bird
is of great worth and ought to be in our fields. It should be liberated
in Texas and Oklahoma and by experiment one could learn how far
north it would endure. I saw it in the province of Buenos Aires
144
News and Notes 145
most abundant and there no snow falls. I do not know how far
south it extends in Argentina.
There is also a much larger bird that flies like a partridge; it is
highly esteemed for its flesh and would no doubt be hardy with us in
the south; its name has escaped me.
Of animals, I will mention only the "mulita" (little mule), a species
of armadillo about 12 inches long in body, with a tail nearly as much
longer. The mulita is a harmless little beast, busy hunting for
insects and roots. When one is caught it curls up and pretends to be
dead. I carried one in my hands many a time when riding across
the camps; its body was always delightfully warm and I used it as
an animated hand warmer, turning it loose again before coming in
to the headquarters of the estancias, since the peons and others eat
mulitas and esteem them great delicacies. Mulitas would thrive
perhaps from Washington south and could not fail to add interest
to the countryside and doubtless perform service as insect destroyers
and afford good food as well, if we would let them increase sufficiently
for that.
There are many interesting small birds in South America that
would, I hope, thrive with us. There is the oven bird that likes to
build its mud oven-like nest on gate posts near dwellings. It is inter-
esting and valuable and ought to do well in the south. It is not
migratory. It would decrease the insects of the south. It has no
bad qualities that I could discover. The cardinal bird, with its
bright red head and crest and its cheery song, would thrive through-
out our south, and there are many others that could be introduced
with profit to us. Conversely, we could send them our robins;
they should be at home there if they did not go in the wrong direction
when time came for winter migration! There is probably no finer
all-around bird than the American robin, in its song, its cheer, its
homely, man-loving nature. — Joseph E. Wing, Mechanicsburg, Ohio.
AN EARLY WORK WITH MENDEL'S LAW
Dining the winter of 1893-94, while working in the Ohio Agricul-
tural Experiment Station greenhouse, I made about thirty crosses
of tomatoes of various kinds; among these crosses was one of the
Dwarf Champion X Potato Leaf which I afterwards for no apparent
reason ran out into the second generation. When in F 2 it showed
very plainly segregation of units and gave me a plant of the Dwarf
146 American Breeders Magazine
Potato Leaf. This peculiar stature and form of leaf was new in
tomatoes and the plant was sold to W. Atlee Burpee & Company,
and introduced in 1899 under the name of Fordhook Fancy. This
tomato was strictly homozygote. Although I have raised plants by
the thousands I have never seen the least sign of sporting or running
back. As far as I know, this was one of the first dwarfs of the tomato
to be named aside from the Dwarf Champion; but there have been
added quite a number since.
So plainly did this cross show where segregation takes place that
I became convinced that there must be some law governing the case.
In 1896, while living in Columbus, Ohio, I got hold of a new type
of tomato which at the present time would probably be called a "mu-
tant;" this tomato was introduced in 1897 by the Livingston Seed
Company, under the name of Honor Bright. This tomato differs
from any other kind in a peculiar yellowing of both fruit and foliage.
At the present time this form of tomato has become fairly well known,
as there are several forms of it, all of which I think I have had the
privilege of originating from the first original one. In 1897, 1 crossed
this new "mutant," the Honor Bright, with another new one — the
Fordhook Fancy. In pondering over the work that I had done in
making the Fordhook Fancy, one day the idea suddenly came to me
that the combinations that go to make up the new tomatoes I wanted
would be found only in the second generation, and in the first genera-
tion I would have something different from what I had used in making
the cross. The cross that I had made succeeded, so, by gathering
as much seed as I could the following year, I would probably find
what I looked for.
The next season I planted enough seed to produce several thousand
plants. What might be the total number of kinds that were produced
I do not know. The practical plant breeder is interested only in the
new and useful kind that may be obtained, and these I had figured
out on paper before ever the fruit commenced to ripen, and when
"round-up" came in the fall I had six out of a possible seven. Had
I not had a fairly clear idea of the law which is now called Mendel's
law I do not think I could have obtained these results. These new
tomatoes were sold to the Livingston Seed Company and introduced
in 1901. Tabulating the work in form of a diagram we have:
News and Notes
147
Honor Bright X
(D) (tall)
(R) (yellow foliage)
(D) (red fruit)
(D) (cut leaf)
Fordhook Fancy
(R) (dwarf)
(D) (green foliage)
(R) (purple fruit)
(R) (full leaf)
Dominant Form
(tall)
(green foliage]
(red fruit)
(cut leaf)
)
L 5
> 2
\ 4
I
[
5 l
3
7
1 = Original form of Honor Bright, purple fruit
2 = Tall, potato leaf, Honor Bright, purple fruit
3 = Tall, potato leaf, Honor Bright, red?
4 = Dwarf, potato leaf, Honor Bright, purple
5 = Dwarf, potato leaf, Honor Bright, red
6 = Dwarf Champions, Honor Bright red
7 = Dwarf Champions, Honor Bright, purple
Livingston's Grandus.
Livingston's Princess.
Livingston's Multicolor.
Livingston's Royal Colors.
Livingston's Danay Dwarf.
Livingston's Aristobright.
Green's Neuevo.
Just which of these tomatoes were homozygote I do not know,
although we raised No. 7 for several years and it has proven quite
true to type. The fact that with help of Mendel's law one can get
a new plant that will not vary, I believe to be an important one. The
Resplendent tomato, introduced by John Lewis Childs in 1912, is
a Dwarf Potato Leaf sort of the Honor Bright type, the fruit being of
the Ponderosa-like shape and size. The scientific point of interest
in regard to it is that it is a segregation — occurring in the F2 cross.
As far as I can remember, I had no plants of Honor Bright growing on
my place for six years before the Resplendent came to light. Toma-
toes while not absolutely self-fertilizing, cross-fertilize so seldom that
I have never seen a natural cross even when different varieties were
grown in the same field. I fail to see why a mutant cannot arise
independently a second time, although in this case the fact that
there were four plants found that carried the characters of the
Resplendent is against it being called a mutant. — E. C. Green,
Medina, Ohio.
148 Amekican Breedebs Magazine
RELATION BETWEEN YIELDS OF MILK AND YIELDS OF FAT
IN DAIRY CATTLE
The figures given in this article are taken from a master's degree
thesis submitted by O. W. Reagin to the Animal Husbandry Depart-
ment of the Ohio State University.
These coefficients of correlation are concrete expressions of com-
monly understood general relations between yields of milk and
yields of fat in the dairy breeds. They relate in no way to inheritance
though they may be of some use in statistical investigation of the
inheritance of dairy capacity.
For Guernseys all authenticated yearly records published from
1902 to 1907 were used. Only 250 authenticated yearly Jersey
records were obtainable and these cover the period of from 1905
to 1908. The coefficients for Guernseys and Jerseys are comparable.
The figures from the two groups of Holsteins can be compared with
each other only. Considerable numbers of Holstein yearly records
can not be secured and results of 7-day tests were used. Group I
comprises 1,000 seven-day records made between 1898 and 1902.
The per cent of fat was not given in the year books and was computed
from the total milk and total butter (80 per cent fat) as recorded.
The second Holstein group of records were all made in the year
1908, affording a comparison of the yields of cows of this breed at
two times ten years apart.
If in Guernseys, for example, the total fat yields should vary
directly with the total milk yield, the coefficient of correlation would
then be + 1. It was found to be somewhat less but quite uniform
with similar results from Jerseys and Holsteins. The correlation
between the pounds of milk and per cent of fat is in all cases a negative
one showing that high milk yields are at the expense of richness in
fat, or in other words that the yield of fat tends to constancy. The
yield of milk and the per cent of fat are much more variable than
the total amount of fat. The twelve coefficients worked out are
included in the table. The means, coefficients of variability and
regression will be furnished to any person desiring them.
News and Notes
149
Correlation existing between yields of milk and fat and yield of fat and per
cent fat in different dairy breeds.
Breed of cattle.
Guernsey..
Jersey
Holsteln I.
Holsteln II
Authenticated yearly.
Coefficient of correlation between:
Total milk and
total fat.
0.8811
Er. 0.0064
0.8725
Er. 0.0101
0.8620
Er. 0.0055
0.8696
\ Er. 0.0052
Total milk and
per cent fat.
—3093
Er. 0.0258
-3444
Er. 0.0372
—1851
Er. 0.0206
—1516
Er. 0.0209
Total fat and
per cent fat.
0.1068 \
Er. 0.0282 f
0.1319 \;
Er. 0.0414
0.3134
Er. 0.0192
0.3438
Er. 0.0207
Number of
record* used.
658*
256*
lOOOf
lOOOf
t Seven-day records.
The errors in coefficients are not stated as they are in no case
large enough to be significant. — F. R. Marshall, Ohio State Univer-
sity, Columbus, Ohio.
A MILLION YEARS HENCE
It is a common practice among scientists to look back a million
years; but it seldom seems to occur to them to look forward that
length of time. Perhaps there is more to be gained by such a pro-
ceeding than might appear superficially. The general disposition to
view the so-called laws of heredity as settled, and the progress of
the animal from the primeval slime as beyond question, is apt to
cause one, looking forward, to wonder how distant generations of
scientists will manage to put in their time.
The truth of the matter is, that while we have discovered a few
facts relating to the methods of nature's workings, the trend of recent
research work and experimental investigation, have clearly demon-
strated the evanescence of hastily concocted formulas. Certain well
defined principles emerge to assist the breeder and supplement his
practical experience. Depending upon anything further is apt to lead
the experimenter off into a maze of unprofitable speculation. Dr.
Wilson has shown in one of his later papers how the actual arrange-
ment of chromosomes differ radically from the earlier conception
of them. Dr. McClurg brings out the pronounced character of the
germ cells of grass hoppers; and Dr. Lillie shows how the different
stages of chromosomic development relate to some propensity of the
entire organism. We might go on multiplying instances where some
150 American Breeders Magazine
•
popular biological conception had to be not only modified but radi-
cally changed.
There is much disposition to question the mutation theory in its
various phases in the light of actual breeding experience as demon-
strated by Prof. H. S. Bolley.
Practical breeders everywhere are beginning to find that a great
deal of the experimental evidence, in favor of an indefinite multipli-
cation of the earth's useful products, has testified to too much. They
see that patient, persistent, personal effort in selection is the thing
that counts.
During a million years what convulsions and changes of style will
assail the cosmic conception! What discoveries and researches to un-
dermine and disintegrate the biological stronghold ! How often, think
you, the biologic castle will be stormed and taken by various armies
during a million years? How often established and how often con-
tested for by warring faction? — Walter Sonneberg.
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
A Literary Note on Mendel's Law. W. W. Stockberger, U. S. Dept. of Agr.
Reprint from American Naturalist, March, 1912. Pp. 151-157.
Contribution Al Mejoramento Del Caballo Para Usos Practicos. Revista
De La LigaAgraria, Buenos Aires, 1911. 72 pages. Illustrated. Through
courtesy of Wm. R. E. Blonin and Don Carlos Guerrero.
Expansion of Races. Charles Edward Woodruff, A.M., M.D. 495 pages.
Rebman Company publishers, New York.
A review of this book, regarding the value of which the most diverse
and opposing opinions exist, will be published in an early number of
the Magazine.
The Trait Book. Eugenics Record Office, Bulletin No. 6. Dr. C. B. Daven-
port, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., February, 1912. 52 pages, 1 text figure,
1 colored frontispiece. Price, 10 cents.
Alfalfa, The Relation of Type to Hardiness. Philo K. Blinn. Bui. 181,
Experiment Station of the Colorado Agricultural College. 16 pages, 14
text figures.
Second Generation of the Cross between Velvet and Lyon Beans. John
Belling, Assistant Botanist. Separate from Report of Florida Agricultural
Experiment Station, 1911. 22 pages, 4 text figures.
Eighteenth Report. Neglected and Dependent Children of Ontario.
W. J. Hanna, Provincial Secretary, Toronto, 1911. 124 pages. Illustrated.
News and Notes 151 ;
i
Delaine Merino Register of the National Delaine Merino Sheep I
Breeders Association, Washington, Pa. Vol. VIII. 1909. 125 pages. f
i
Woman and Labor. Olive Schreiner. 299 pages. Frederick A. Stokes [
Company, publishers, New York. Price $1.25 net. * ■
In her statement of the all too seldom realized fact that "with !
each generation the entire race passes through the body of its woman-
hood as through a mold, reappearing with the indelible marks of \
that mold upon it," Olive Schreiner strikes the keynote of her great
book, Woman and Labor, which is at once one of the most logical, i
the most appealing, the most biologically convincing, and the most
deeply-foundationed of all the literature which has attempted to
deal with the so-called "new woman problem."
Sketching lightly, yet with bold and certain strokes, she draws a
picture of the evolution of the human race with woman's part therein, j
showing that from its very infancy woman has served the race and
the common good side by side with man and that in addition to her
most important function of incessant child-bearing she has also per-
formed her full share of the labor of supporting the race and of
carrying it onward in its appointed path of progress. By many
historical citations the author shows that races have held their own
in the great battle for existence only so long as their women have
labored — have exercised to the full all their qualities of heart, hand,
and brain, and that when a race has become so opulent that it was
no longer necessary for the women to labor, and when as a result
the women became to a greater or a less extent parasitic, that race,
producing through its weak and inefficient womanhood correspond-
ingly weak and inefficient men, has gone down before other races
whose women were still laboring women — strong in mind and body —
virile, efficient, worthy of motherhood. To quote from the book
itself: "Only an able and laboring womanhood can permanently
produce an able and laboring manhood."
By a comprehensive outline of the economic progress of the ages,
Miss Schreiner shows how woman's natural duties have, one by one,
been taken from her: how for the spinning-wheels of an earlier gen-
eration are now the great steam-driven looms of our factories; for
the hoes and grindstones of our earlier agriculture which it fell to
the women to tend while the men fought and hunted, are now power-
ful agricultural implements, man-managed and often steam or elec-
tricity driven; how factoi*y-made garments and factory-canned or
prepared foods day by day usurp more and more the place of women '
as useful laborers, "while among the wealthy classes the male dress-
152 American Breeders Magazine
designer with his hundred male-milliners and dress-makers is help-
ing finally to explode the ancient myth that it is woman's exclusive
sphere, and a part of her domestic toil, to cut and shape the gar-
ments she or her household wear."
Even woman's great labor of child-bearing is being more and more
restricted as the race progresses. Since, under modern conditions,
our race is no longer decimated by plague, pestilence, famine, or
continuous war, incessant child-bearing is no longer demanded of
woman. From having been in times past her greatest duty it has
come to pass in our present day that "child-bearing and suckling,
instead of filling the entire circle of female life from the first appearance
of puberty to the end of middle age, becomes an episodal occupation
employing from three or four to ten or twenty of the three score-
and ten years which are allotted to human life. In such societies
the statement (so profoundly true when made with regard to most
savage societies, and even largely true with regard to those in the
intermediate stages of civilization) that the main and continuous
occupation of all women from puberty to age is the bearing and suck-
ling of children, and that this occupation must fully satisfy all her
needs for social labor and activity, becomes an antiquated and
unmitigated misstatement."
"Looking around then, with the utmost impartiality we can com-
mand, on the entire field of woman's ancient and traditional labors,
we find that fully three-fourths of it have shrunk away for ever, and
that the remaining fourth still tends to shrink."
With these great fundamental truths as her text she makes an
impassioned appeal that for the good not of woman alone but of the
entire race all fields of labor — scientific, educational, social, economic
— be opened to her; that, having travelled the path of human
progress thus far side by side with man, it shall not be denied her
to go still farther by his side, developing as he develops and, by
her own development, reacting upon the race in the production of
still stronger generations of men in the years to come.
Taking the splendid ground of racial necessity, she demands that
woman be not forced, by the narrowing of her former fields of labor
and by the closure to her of all other fields, into a degrading parasitism,
and declares the incontestable fact that: "If, at the present day,
woman, after her long upward march side by side with man, devel-
oping with him through the ages by means of endless exercise of the
faculties of mind and body, has now, at last, reached her ultimate
limit of growth, and can progress no farther; that, then, here also,
News and Notes 153
today, the growth of the human spirit is to be stayed; that here, on
the spot of woman's arrest, is the standard of the race to be finally
planted, to move forward no more, forever: that, if the parasite
woman on her couch, loaded with gewgawa, the plaything and amuse-
ment of man, be the permanent and final manifestation of female
human life on the globe, then that couch is also the deathbed of
human evolution."
In the face of these truths, that man or woman must be much more
foolish than brave who would dare to stand in the path of any woman
who, the traditional fields of woman's labor having failed her, asks
permission to exercise her powers in any new field to which her tal-
ents or preferences may call her. The author has in this book con-
tributed not only a social document, but unawares perhaps, a strong
eugenic one. And whatever personal views one may hold regarding
the woman's movement, one cannot get away from the fact that
this book presents a number of eugenic questions from an entirely
new viewpoint. — Hattie M. Wilson.
The Heredity of Richard Roe : A Discussion of the Principles of Eugen-
ics. Davis Starr Jordan, President of Leland Stanford, Jr., University.
165 pp. American Unitarian Association, publishers, 1911. Price $1.20 net.
For a panoramic view and a popular and readable statement of
the subject of Eugenics we have not yet seen anything which so well
covers the ground as this little book. The title would lead one to
believe that it is a novel with a problem hidden between its leaves;
whereas it is a book on eugenics purely so — Richard Roe being a
lay-figure, which helps us to think out the problem in concrete terms.
One fact which recommends Richard Roe to the reader, whether
he be a general reader or a scientist, is, that the book is not a scien-
tific one; and yet the subject is treated from the modern viewpoint,
and the facts of science are presented together with a ripe philosophy
of life, and with touches here and there of subtle wit. Its epigram-
matic style makes the book entertaining and one reads it with as
much tension as a story. Here are a few quotations from the text:
"The purpose of the study of Eugenics is to know the kind of ancestors we
should pick for the next generation. • • • "
"A good stock is the only material out of which history can make a great
nation. • • • • "
"In spite of the facts of race suicide, and the number of foolish wives and
broken families, motherhood was never so highly esteemed in civilized races
as it is today. ••••»'
154 American Breeders Magazine
"The gilded youth and the smart set are not typical of American manhood
or womanhood and Richard Roe is not of their kind, for he belongs to a type
that lasts. "
"In the instant of conception, the gifts of life are granted. • • ■ • "
"On the other hand unexpected glories sometimes arise from the happy
mating of these common folk whose characters chance to supplement each
other. * • * • "
"Among men there have always been those to whom the art of living was
impossible. • * •
>>
No doubt, the largest number of persons who concern themselves
with eugenics see it chiefly in its broader light, and its sociological
significance, and less in its relation to self and the individual. The
author himself seems to have been strongly impressed by the former
viewpoint and made it the dominant note in his book, which goes
forth from a glance at the subheads of chapters, as instance, a few,
taken at random: Race Decline not Collective, Race Decadence,
The Poor Whites, Poverty and Pauperism, Paupers or Parasites,
Corruption Fund of Public Charity, Foreign Immigration, Future of
the Republic, Slavery, The Slums, Luxury, The Higher Foolishness,
The Mind of Nations, Breeding of the Superman, All Englishmen of
Royal Lineage, The Wholesome World.
Some defects we are quite willing to overlook; thus certain portions
of the book bear evidence of either, haste in writing or at any rate
lack of painstaking editing; at times the argument does not seem to
be fully built out.
The Horse, His Breeding, Care and Use. David Buffum. 160 pages,
5 inches by 7 inches, 7 text figures. Outing Publishing Company, publish-
ers, New York, 1911. Price, 70 cents.
A treatise on the horse in narrative style, which makes it quite read-
able. It is evidently written by one who knows his subject well,
and the thirteen short chapters abound in useful suggestions as to
curing of vices, shying, the education of the colt, treatment of certain
cases of sickness, shoeing, etc.
The author very aptly states that " horses vary in character and
disposition as much as human beings do and come by their traits in
the same way — by inheritance. The disposition of a horse seems
to be inherited more from his dam than his sire."
The author is strongly of the opinion that "meanness and vicious-
ness in horses can best be avoided by not breeding it into them. Even
if such horses can be subdued and made useful, is it worth while to
raise them, if others without these undesirable traits can be raised.
News and Notes 155
There is a very interesting chapter of about twelve pages on " Our
Debt to the Arab" narrating the fascinating story of Godolphins
Arabian (in Tunis, Scham and Agba, his keeper).
Horse lovers and horse raisers will do well to add this book to
their collection of horse literature.
"Tomorrow.' ' A play in three acts, by Percy MacKaye. 176 pages. Fred-
erick A. Stokes Company, publishers, New York. Price, $1.25 net.
After the reading of this play one cannot fail to be impressed that
in this the stage entered the field as a great moral teacher. In "To-
morrow" the author has cleverly and successfully presented one of
the big and striking facts of eugenics, precisely as the thinking and
seeing observe it enacted daily in real life. There is not a word or
an incident which is overdrawn.
The story is simple — love of a woman for a man who had earlier
"sowed his wild oats." Her first impulse is to follow him despite
all; eventually her training asserts itself and she exercises the rights
of her enlightened womanhood and drops the physically poisoned
thing for a pure man.
The action of the play is laid in southern Cajifornia, on the farm
of a plant breeder, and the philosophy of selecting, of hybridizing,
or of Mendelism and the accomplishments of plant breeding are
cleverly and instructively woven into the play.
A characteristic sidelight is given of the attitude of the "practical
man," who asks for the meaning of eugenics. A little blind girl is
introduced into the play, apparently standing as a living answer to
his question. It is probably the first time that the word "plant-
breeder" is used in a literary production, and we feel especially grate-
ful to the author for using this word. It is good, it is correct, and
the public may as well now learn its meaning and become accustomed
to its use. If the author had been a bit more of a scientist, he would
have seen that by judiciously drawing upon a few more of the mar-
velous facts of heredity he could have greatly strengthened the play
and added to its general interest.
The central thought of the play is this: That once eugenic truth
is taught to women, the race will through them be regenerated, and
progress to a new and wonderful human race be assured.
Only six principal characters enter into the play; a select company
should be able to make a powerful and appealing presentation of it.
156 American Breeders Magazine
REFERENCES IN CURRENT LITERATURE
Pedigreed Nursery Stock : Circular 18, New York Agricultural Experiment
Station. An address given at the meeting of the New York Fruit Growers,
Rochester, N. Y., January 5, 1912, by Prof. U. P. Hedrick, Geneva, N. Y.
The author questions the value or rather the commercial practica-
bility of "pedigreed nursery stock. ,, The ground he takes is "that
there is nothing to gain even though there be a scintilla of truth in
the claims of those who would have nursery stock sold with a pedi-
gree/' and "that a fruit grower can spend his time to better advan-
tage than in attempting to breed fruit trees by selection."
In support of this view the author contends that individual seed-
lings grown from seed of the same plant may vary greatly. On
the other hand a bud or a graft is literally a "chip of the old block"
and while plants grown from buds may vary because of environment
they do not often vary through heredity. "And in case of the occur-
rence of such a variation, only trial can determine whether or not
it is heritable." There is no evidence to show that the total varia-
tions, due to "the richer soil, more sunlight, better care, the greater
freedom from insects, and diseases, the longer season can be transmitted
from parent to offspring. The fruit grower who wants to perpetu-
ate such variations must renew for each generation the conditions
which gave him the desirable traits. It is a question of nurture,
not nature."
Summing up some of the difficulties standing in the way of pedi-
greeing fruit trees, the author fears that "opportunities for dis-
honest practices would be greatly multiplied. If pedigreed trees
become a vogue, tree-growing must become a petty business. Climate
and environment would permit nurserymen who are growing pedi-
greed stock, to propagate only a half dozen varieties of any fruit."
"Fruit trees are not sufficiently well fixed in their characters to
make selection from single 'best trees' worth while even should their
characters be transmissible."
"The burden of proof is upon those who advocate pedigreed trees,
for the present practices of propagating fruit plants are justified by
the precedents of centuries."
The Best Color for Horses in the Tropics. Lieut. Col. Charles E. Wood-
ruff, Med. Corps, U. S. Army, Journal of the U. S. Cavalry Association,
September 1911. Pp. 243-263.
Dr. Woodruff has been persistently pursuing the question of the in-
fluence of light on living matter and since the publication of his Expan-
News and Notes 157
sion of Races, and The Effect of Tropical Light on White Man has in
various writings added facts of material values until he has succeeded
in bringing together an amount of data which command attention,
particularly because of their practical value. The article under
consideration is written mainly with the view of eliciting further
information on the matter of skin and hair color of horses, mules
and cattle for tropical countries and incidentally of all stock much
exposed to sunlight.
Dr. Woodruff maintains that "a few belated physicians still pro-
fess to believe that nature made a mistake in pigmenting living forms
in light countries, but that is no reason why men should be so foolish
as to try to acclimatize where God cannot do it." "Acclimatization
is now used only by ignoramuses."
He believes that in transferring stock of whatever kind, from one cli-
mate and latitude to another, skin and hair coloring is an item that must
be considered. If not, the lethal effect of light will effect a selection
by killing of the least fit and this is true in tropical countries, climates
with intense sunlight, or even large cities where during "hot waves"
conditions exist, resembling those in tropical climates.
Best adopted in the tropics are animals with white, gray or sorrel,
or mud colored hair and black skin, while for animals in the north
temperate zones the best are black skins with either white or light
coats.
A New Science and its Findings : Some disconcerting discoveries by Karl
Pearson; Albert Jay Nock. The American Magazine, March, 1912.
Illustrated with portraits. Pp. 577-583.
An article describing the progress of the study of eugenics in Eng-
land and making "a plea for the organization of eugenics in this
country." The writer displays an amazing lack of information con-
cerning the status of eugenics study and organization in America.
We cannot conceive how he can be ignorant of the organization of
the American Breeders Association with its three great sections of
breeders of plants, breeders of animals, and eugenists. In fact,
there is not in all Europe an organization of similar scope. Without
discounting the splendid work which our English friends have been
and are doing, and the superb body of knowledge of "Rassenkultur"
being built up by German scientists, it may in justice be said that
America is not lagging behind.
The Eugenics Record Office is a permanent base for the collection
and study of eugenic fact. It is, so far as our knowledge goes, the
158 American Breeders Magazine
only eugenics institution having a staff of field workers. There are
ten special eugenics committees, composed of men of whom each
is an authority in his special line. The Magazine presents a great
variety of genetic and eugenic subjects in a popular way and the
Annual Report contains all the scientific and technical contributions
from members. Under the leadership of members of the Association,
the formation of eugenic clubs at the important educational centers
is being inaugurated.
This in brief is the present status of the organization of eugenics
in this country, and we most strenuously take exception to the heed-
less statement of the writer, who assumes to know what eugenists
are doing in this country, but does not.
Mr. Nock suggests: "Let us divert if necessary, a little of the
endowment that goes so prodigally into the multiplication of veter-
inarians, lawyers, dentists, engineers, and doctors, and endow an
investigation into the workings of cause and effect upon our supply
of men." He is in this only partially right. Funds are needed for
research work in general genetics as well as in eugenics. Space is
too limited here to explain why this is so.
Die Karakul Schafe (The Karakule Breed of Sheep). H. Kraemer Hohen-
heim, Germany. April 12, 1912, number of Mitteilungen der Deutschen
Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft.
In an interesting article, the author reviews the recent contribu-
tion to the literature of breeding of karakul sheep by Professor Adam-
etz of Vienna, Austria. This part of the sheep industry has been
the object of discussion for many years, but the German with charac-
teristic conservatism and circumspection has never risked going into
it on a business scale. Professor Adametz of Vienna, Austria, found
that karakuls are extensively bred and valuable furs produced in the
Crimea, South Russia and Bosnia. Good results have been achieved
at Gross-Engersdorf and at the imperial Thiergarten at Schoenbrunn,
Austria. The conclusions which the author draws from all available
Russian and Austrian experiments are here condensed very briefly as
follows :
That there is not demonstrable any influence of either climate or soil of the
steppes of Bokhara and Chiwa, on the quality and amount of "curl" of the
skin of the Karakul lamb.
That a deteriorating influence of European climate and feed on pure Euro-
pean bred Karakuls is not observable.
That the characteristic "curl" and "penciling" of the fur is a mendelian
character, which had originated probably by mutation.
News and Notes 159
That this character was probably strengthened by selection, and is capable
of still further improvement by the same method.
It seems as if the German farmer was preparing in his systematic
and irrepressible way to add a valuable industry to his agriculture.
It is chagrining to say the least, that the United States exports annually
millions worth of fine furs and skins, but all as raw material. Leipzig
is the market center of the world's fur trade and our best and
costliest skins go there and are reimported after being made valuable
by skilled artisans who receive apprenticeship and industrial training
in the excellent trades schools of that country. Now the Germans
seem to have decided in their own minds that the curl and penciling
in the Karakul wool is a unit character and is independent of climate
or soil and that those valuable skins can be grown to as great perfec-
tion in Mecklenburg as in Bokhara. We would misjudge their pro-
verbial thrift greatly, if they will not exploit that important fact.
Here is another side. Does not all this illustrate forcibly the need
in this country of a public service organization like the American
Breeders Association? And ought not this Association to have at
its disposal funds for the study of such and similar questions, which
are too expensive and too complex for individuals to undertake, and
for study of which it is as a rule difficult to obtain public money?
The Transmitting Power and Influence of the Dam in Developing a
High Class Herd of Purebred Dairy Cattle. Charles P. Reed. In
the Michigan Dairy Farmer, Vol. Ill, No. 47, February 24, 1912. Pp. 3-6.
What Will Your Child Inherit? Ethel C. Macomber. Delineator for
April, 1912, with a foreword by Dr. C. B. Davenport.
Dissemination of Purebred Grain in Wisconsin. The Farmer, St. Paul,
Minnesota; No. 10, March 9, 1912. Pp. 363-364.
The Red Sunflower. Prof. T. D. C. Cockerell. Pop. Science Monthly,
April, 1912. Pp. 373-382.
Journal of Genetics, Cambridge, England.
Contents of February number, 1912 :
The history of Primula Obconica, Hance, under Cultivation. Arthur W.
Gilbert.
Account of Family showing Minor Brachydactyly. H. Drinkwater.
A Critical Examination of Recent Studies on Color inheritance in Horses.
A. H. Sturtevant.
A Further Contribution to the Study of Right and Left-handedness.
(Torsion in plants.) R. H. Compton.
ASSOCIATION MATTERS
THE A.B.A.IN FOREIGN CO UN TRIES
A most gratifying feature connected with the development of the
American Breeders Association is the appreciation of its work by
foreign scientists and breeders. The steadily growing world popu-
lation is making the problem of food supply a formidable one in all
countries
The question of enhancing the breeding values of the world's food-
supply— plants and animals— has a decidedly international aspect and
although bodies of men have organized in nearly all countries into
societies serving in each respectively, purposes similar to those of
the American Breeders Association in this, it seems, as if the American
Breeders Association were universally recognized as the agency most
largely concerning itself with that question. At least, that is the
only interpretation we can place upon the fact, for instance, that ten
per cent of the total membership of the Association are in foreign
countries; or the further fact that eighteen per cent of the life
members are in foreign countries.
The latest substantial addition to the foreign contingent of our
membership comes from Russia. Nine new memberships were sent
in by Mr. Basil Benzin of the Department of Agriculture at St. Peters-
burg, Russia, making the total number of our members in that
country fourteen.
Two years or more ago you influenced me to join the American Breeders'
Association. The publications have been received regularly and looked over
somewhat, although the greater number of articles have been of too technical
a nature to be of special interest to me. But in the preparation of a paper
which I recently read before the meeting of the Western Michigan Holstein-
Friesin Association I found a wealth of good material in the magazines. The
information which I was enabled to give has been of such interest that the
paper has been widely advertised and republished a number of times. — C. P #
Reed, Secretary West Michigan Holstein Friesin Association , Howell, Michigan m
Volume VI of the Annual Reports has been received, and, to say the very
least about the material which it contains, I consider my membership fee better
spent, or invested rather, than anything I have ever yet invested. — John C.
Thysell, Dickinson, N. D.
You may rest assured that I will always be more than willing to subscribe
$2.00 a year for the excellent publication that is gotten out for the American
Breeders Association under your efficient direction. Their worth is many
times this amount to me. — M. M. Jardine, Professor of Agronomy, Kansas
State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kas.
160
Washington, D. C.
W^^^/ WASHINGTON, D.C. V^^^j/
• AMERICAN «
BREEDERS
MAGAZINE
A JOURNAL OF GENETICS AND EUGENICS
The lllawarra Dairy Cattle
frank McCaffrey
Fat-Tail and Broad-Tail Sheep
C. C. YOUNG
Color Markings in Hereford-Shorthorns
B. P. FOGLE
l
Evolution of a Type of Horse
W. S. ANDERSON '
EMared u •rond-olui matter Jon* 10, 1910, it the Pot Offlw it Wmihiwrton, D. C. unto thi Act of Jul* U, V
Vol. in, No. 3. Whole Number 11.
CONTENTS
Nehemiah P. Clarke, Biography (with portrait).
W. If . Harm, Washington, D. C 161
The IUawarra Breed of Dairy Cattle, illustrated.
Frank McCaffrey. Kiama, N. S. W., Australia 164
A History of the Arabian Horse, and ha Inflnenco on Modern Breeds, fflnatrated.
F. Knorr, Mitchell, Nebraska 174
Concerning the Fat-tail and the Broad-tail Sheet, fllnstrated.
C. C. Tonne Beten, Tens 181
Transmission of Color and Color Markings in Hereford-Shorthorn Crosses.
B. P. Fogle, Beaver Creek, N. C 201
The Turkey as an Beg Producer, illustrated.
w. N. Irwin, Washington, D.C + 204
The Evolution of a Type of Horse, frustrated.
W. A. Anderson, Winchester, Kj 209
EDITORIALS:
The Pedagogics of Eugenics 222
The American Breeders Association and the Practical Breeder 224
News and Notes:
Another Instance of Bay Foals from Chestnut Parents 228
A Pertinent Eugenics Question 228
Organization of a Eugenics Club at Cornell University 229
Progress Report from the University of Wisconsin 230
Value of Seedling Characters in Plant Breeding 231
Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demography 232
Publications Received 233
New Books 233
References in Current Literature 237
Errata 237
Association Matters:
The Eugenics Record Office, illustrated 238
Members and Endowment 238
The Magazine to Open its Pages to Advertisements 249
THE AMERICAN BREEDERS MAGAZINE Is published quarterly by the
American Breeders Association for the use of its members and for others who are
students of Eugenics and Genetics and for breeders of plants and animals.
Price of single copies 35 cents.
The American Breeders Association
Is a cooperative association designed to develop the science of heredity and
the art of breeding, and to bring that knowledge to persons interested in these
subjects.
The membership is composed of progressive breeders of live stock, horticul-
turists, seedsmen, scientists, teachers, publicists, physicians, and others interested
in the various phases of heredity of plants, animals and men. All freely cooper-
ate through the Association and contribute the time required to make investigations,
to prepare papers, to attend the annual meetings and to help build up the literature
of the science and practice of breeding.
i
All persons in any way interested are cordially invited to become members.
Holders of memberships are entitled to the American Breeders Magazine, to the
annual report of the Proceedings of the Association, and to full participation in the
activities of the Association. I
An endowment fund of $500,000 is being solicited. Who can help raise it?
Membership: Annual, $2.00; Life, $20.00; Delegate, $25.00*
No entrance fee*
cAddrtss all communications to:
AMERICAN BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
Washington, D. C.
(Ceyyrlght, 1912, by the American Bleeders Association.)
<u-
i
THE AMEEICAN
BREEDERS MAGAZINE
"Compared with him who has the power to conceive an Ideal animal form and call it into life,
through a profound knowledge of nature's Intricate and hidden laws, the greatest sculptor Is a mere
mechanic."— A. H. Sandebs.
Vol. Ill Third Quarter, 1912 No. 3
NEHEMIAH PARKER CLARKE, 1836-1912
Nehemiah P. Clarke of St. Cloud, Minnesota, one of the strongest
breeders of pedigreed live stock in the United States, died on June
29, 1912. Interested primarily in merchandising and lumbering,
Mr. Clarke gradually developed his talents as a breeder of live
stock until this became his main business. The Breeders Gazette
truly says of him: "As a constructive breeder of draft horses and
beef cattle, it is doubtful if this country has produced his superior. "
The pioneers in breeding as in every other calling, have filled a
large place in American life. In nearly all cases they have been
self-made men who have won because of sheer force of personality,
and because of peculiar fitness for their especial business. We have
no better example of this kind of live stock pioneer than Mr. Clarke.
His achievements are not as well known as they would have been
had he done his work more nearly in the center of the great live
stock region of the middle west. He was located in the northern
zone of live stock business, but in spite of that fact won not only a
national but an international reputation as an importer and especially
as a breeder of several classes of pedigreed animals.
While he bred other classes of live stock, his chief reputation came
to him through his Shorthorn cattle, Clydesdale horses and Galloway
cattle. For many years, in each of these three lines, he had kept
on his three farms near St. Cloud among the largest and very best
groups of females to be found in this country.
His Columbian World's Fair winnings in Clydesdale classes from
his Clyde Mains Farm first attracted attention to Mr. Clarke's
ability in assembling and breeding live stock. During later years
the winning at The International Live Stock Expositions of inter-
national herd championships for Shorthorns, bred on his Meadow
Lawn Farm, again emphasized the fact that Mr. Clarke had built
up a great breeding establishment. His achievements in building
up a splendid herd of Galloway cattle stood only second to his work
with Clydesdale horses and Shorthorn cattle.
161
NEHIUI AH P. CLARK
Hays: Nehemiah P. Clarke 163
One element of Mr. Clarke's ability as a breeder was shown by
his leaving the splendid collection of stock he had built up, in the
hands of those who can continue the brilliant work he did in his
► life, so that the blood which he had assembled should be kept
as a constant wellspring of new value to be multiplied and distrib-
uted to those who produce live stock. Too many of our breeders
gain a state-wide or even a nation-wide reputation for herds which
contain splendid individuals, and are splendid in their usefulness
in producing breeding animals for sale, but at the death of the breeder
the herds are dissipated.
Equal to, if not greater than Mr. Clarke's public service as a
breeder was his work in connection with the development of agri-
cultural organizations in his state. As President of the State Agri-
cultural Society a third of a century ago he was the leader in securing
and building up the magnificent State Fair Grounds between Min-
neapolis and St. Paul. In his work of organizing agricultural
institutions Mr. Clarke was long associated with Mr. J. J. Hill.
It was largely through their influence that the branch experiment
stations and agricultural high schools were extended throughout
Minnesota. Mr. Clarke was one of the leaders who stood for the
establishment of the first agricultural high school in this country,
at St. Anthony Park on the Minnesota Agricultural College Farm.
He was interested to the end, in all measures to put forward the
education of farm youth and of the mature farmers. He was a
powerful factor in inducing the authorities to build up agricultural
as well as general education for the farm youth of Minnesota.
He was one of the most vigorous of those American business men
who have aided the newer education to break away from the old
academic learning of a third of a century ago. There should be
placed for him a statue at Minnesota's University Farm, that those
i who reap the benefits of his life may know of his work as a breeder
(• and as a worker for country life betterment.
Mr. Clarke was born in Massachusetts in 1836. He went west
and, after a brief experience in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, entered
r the mercantile business in St. Cloud, in 1836. He was long engaged
in the transportation of government supplies between the Mississippi
River and the Black Hills and for many years was extensively engaged
in lumbering. During the last thirty years he gradually withdrew
from most of his other enterprises and devoted himself to his three
farms with their herds of pedigreed live stock. W. M. Hays.
THE ILLAWARRA BREED OF DAIRY CATTLE
Frank McCaffrey
Kiama, New South Wales, Australia
Illawarra, New South Wales, embraces the eastern portion of
the County of Caimden, and the northern portion of the County of
St. Vincent; bounded on the north by a line west to the head of the
Cataract River, commencing on the sea shore near Bulli; on the
west by the Illawarra range, thence straight to the middle source
of the Kangaroo River; thence by that river to its confluence with
the Shoalhaven River to about 2 rniles south of the Warreamungo;
on the south by the range north of Endricko River to the source
of Yalmal Creek and again by a range to Lambe Grant — (Jervis
Bay) ; and by the eastern shore of St. George's basin to Sussex Haven
and thence by the sea shore, which forms the eastern boundary to
Bulli, as aforesaid. The eastern face of the Illawarra range con-
sists of numerous gorges.
Illawarra is a beautiful, fertile, roinantic district between 50 to
90 miles from Sydney, covering about 250 square miles. The Illa-
warra Mountain is a lofty and precipitous range running parallel
to the coast, and supporting the elevated table-land to the west-
ward. Looking from, the mountain toward the sea the views from
a hundred different outlooks are indescribably beautiful and magni-
ficent. The district proper consists of a belt of land enclosed
between the mountains and the ocean, increasing in breadth to the
southward. It was originally thickly wooded, and for the most
part exuberantly fertile. In a word, nature did everything possible
for Illawarra, on which tuankind has lived without doing anything
in return for upwards of eighty years. Baron Hugel, an Austrian
gentleman, who resided some time in New South Wales, devoting
hiinself to scientific research, observed that the scenery and vegeta- j
tion of Illawarra strongly reminded him of scenes he had visited <
in the interior of Ceylon. Kiama, the center of the dairy industry
in Illawarra, is situated 90 miles by road and 70 miles by railway
south of Sydney.
The origin of our Illawarra dairy cattle takes us back to the year
1816. Illawarra was then in its virgin state just what a man of
science would keenly appreciate, a display of natural harmony,
unity in a multitude of variety; the delicate balance sustained for
the time being by the addition of the very best strains of horses
164
McCaffrey: The Illawarra Breed op Dairy Cattle 165
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McCaffrey: The Illawarra Breed of Dairy Cattle 167
and cattle that money could purchase in England. Prior to 1816
Major Johnson, Captain Macarthur, Dr. Throsby and Messrs. De
Avey Wentworth, James Badgery, Robert Jenkins and others
received grants of land from the government together with stock and
convict servants in the vicinity of Sydney. The success of these
early experiments was phenomenal, and stock of all kinds increased
and multiplied in numbers and quality beyond all expectation.
The second duke of Northumberland sent this friend, Major Johnson,
a great gift of breeding horses and cattle. Major Johnson had
obtained on the banks of the Macquaria Rivulet which empties
into Illwarra Lake a grant of land that consisted of rich alluvial
flats and sloping open ridges, known as open forest land. No better
country could be selected in Australia for a stock farm. The other
gentlemen just mentioned quickly followed Major Johnson with
stockkeepers, surveyors, timber getters and herds of breeding
animals. Hence by the time the mid-twenties of last century weie
reached, there were in Illawarra valuable herds of Durham, Long-
horn, Shorthorn, Hereford, Devon, Holderness, Red and Dun Colored
Polled, and Ayrshire cattle all doing well and increasing and multi-
plying by hundreds annually. Very little change took place in
the system of cattle raising during the next twenty years. Here
the stud animals were bred for the fast increasing inland stations.
Many men with capital had settled in Illawarra just prior to 1840,
when a flood of immigration set in which displaced the convict
system of the past. This period marked the beginning of dairying
in Australia, as an industry, and it is from this date that Illawarra
men date the foundation of their breed of dairy cattle.
Having watched the several developments in dairy cattle breed-
ing in Illawarra for a period of fifty years, I can safely say that
many of our best types of cows and bulls appeared to be mere acci-
dents of birth. Notwithstanding all that human art has done in
the past, soil and climate seem to have been favorable to the pro-
duction of a distinct type of dairy animal. So much perplexity
surrounded every scheme of breeding and mating dairy cattle, from
any point of view that, from the moment I grasped Mendel's Laws
of breeding to this day, I have done naught but reflect on the breed-
ing of our best families of Illawarra dairy cattle. For example,
take the breeding of the tall and dwarf peas as explained by Men-
delism. In Illawarra as long as I can remember we had a tall lengthy
well-developed family of cattle. These cattle were evolved from
crosses of the old Longhorned breed with the Shorthorn. They
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McCaffrey: The Illawarra Breed of Dairy Cattle 169
were called Longhorned-Durham and were mostly of a strawberry
color. They were splendid dairy cattle, perhaps rather coarse in
the bone, and standing high off the ground. At one time there
were thousands of this type of animal in New South Wales. Con-
temporary with that there was to be f ound in perhaps greater number
a low-set red dairy cattle, evolved from crosses of the Devon and
Ayrshire breeds. Now, I contend that by mating those two distinct
and to some extent opposite types of cattle, we have produced our
best strains of dairy cattle by striking a happy medium. This
however must be borne in mind: Productiveness and udder formation
has been the aim and object of our Illawarra dairymen for upward
of seventy years. With regard to putting udders on their female
progeny the imported English Shorthorns have been lamentable
failures in Australia during the last forty years; hence the formation
of the Illawarra Dairy Cattle Association which has for its object
the preservation and conservation of the remaining types of the old
strains of cattle. We think that when the dairymen come to under-
stand the practical application of the laws of heredity, good results
will follow. No doubt many of our most successful dairymen have
been working for years on the simple plan of selection and crossing
with the best types of the Shorthorn and Ayrshire breeds and it
goes without saying that there are crosses of various kinds being
worked into the modern milking types of both these breeds.
These methods were carried too far in Illawarra about thirty
years ago and many dairymen became possessed of the pure Short-
horn craze and purchased station-bred Shorthorns and used them
in their herds which procedure resulted in loss of udder capacity
among their progeny, combined with other undesirable character-
istics. Notwithstanding the great disaster wrought in our dairy
herds by the introduction of those pure bred Shorthorn bulls there
are still some of our dairymen to be found clinging to the "Flesh
Pots," simply because the progeny of these beef bulls which have
had pure Ayrshire dams look well in the show ring, and occasionally
sell well. Dairy farming is not carried on in Illawarra for the mere
sake of breeding show animals, it has an end beyond that. We may
therefore anticipate that when Mendelism comes to be fully grasped
by our Illawarra dairymen they will become its devoted students.
Much of the every day observations on the farm confirm its simple
rules and this will quickly appeal to common sense.
If we now turn from the science and the art of breeding to the
purely practical, we may still see that beauty of form consists in the
American Breeders Magazine
McCaffrey: The Illawarra Breed of Dairy Cattle 171
harmony and happy proportions between the several parts of an
animal's mechanism. With regard to the udder formation of the
Illawarra dairy cow there may be difference of opinion; but all breed-
ers are agreed that as far as its productive functions are concerned,
it is as pure bred as the wool on the back of a Merino sheep. With
regard to body conformation or type, difference of opinion seems
also to exist; yet all are agreed that the most economic type of cow
for dairy purposes is what is termed the wedge-shape animal. Views
regarding color vary according to the breeder's fancy, but geneially
speaking the lighter shades of any color or blend of colors are the
most preferred. The photograph accompanying this article were
taken of animals in the vicinity of Kiama, my native home, with the
exception of Warrior which we sold from the Illawarra district some
years ago. Too many valuable dairy animals are removed from
places of usefulness at tempting prices by buyers who have no practi-
cal knowledge of dairy cattle breeding. The photograph of Warrior
was taken in Queensland on a farm to which he should not have been
taken.
With the oncoming of the great advance in knowledge of the
principles of breeding as laid down by the adherents of Mendelism,
we will no doubt soon see a much larger percentage of these high
class dairy cattle, whose photographs accompany this article, than
it has been our good fortune to raise. Instead of looking at these
almost ideal animals as being so many accidents, we will become
accustomed to look upon the waster as an accident of birth. Unfor-
tunately the great mass of dairy farmers are too busy on their farms
to do much reading, hence new ideas progress slowly.
Our cattle could not be registered in the English Shorthorn herd-
books — they are not of that type. They are of the English Short-
horn type that existed in England prior to 1870. That is to say, they
are Shorthorns that carry little or no beef and possess plenty of
size without being large boned. Our cattle are descended from the
English Shorthorn of the thirties and forties of last century. There-
fore, they could not be entered in Coates* herdbook.* They will
not carry the beef and that is what the English herdbook was origi-
nally established for.
* In the Journal of the Board of Agriculture, September, 1910, p. 447, The Coatee Herd Book Is
described by Mr. A. T. Mathews, as follows:
"A very great step in advance was taken when, after much persistent advocacy by Mr. Richard
Stratton and others, the Shorthorn Society commenced in 1901 to give prises for milking Shorthorns,
although in so doing no definite aim was claimed. The movement served the great purpose of setting
certain breeders to think, and in 1905 they formed a new society, called the "Dairy Shorthorn (Coatee's
American Breeders Magazine
McCaffrey: The Illawarra Breed of Dairy Cattle 173
Nor could they be registered in the American Shorthorn herdbook
if that is based on the same lines as the modern English herdbooks.
We have a strain of cattle here that have been bred exclusively
for milk and butter production for seventy years back. To my
knowledge, there have not been any records made as to the cost of
producing milk and butter; at any ra^te not in the sense that experi-
ment stations conduct such tests. Our dairymen are nearly all
reut payers. Rents are very high in Illawarra, running in some
instances as high as 2 pounds ($9.72) per acre per year exclusive of
taxes, rates, etc. We have the landlord system with us.
The dairymen know the breed and types of cattle that pay the
rent, and they have held fast to them through all ills and will no
doubt continue to hold on to them, improving them as they go along.
Our breeders claim that our cattle are the original types of Shorthorn
and that generations of feeding have produced the beef types. How-
ever, we are all living in hope of better results later on when the
older worlds have solved a few of the many vexed questions in heredity
— and found clues to the tangled facts of the causes of variation.
In conclusion I desire to convey my appreciation of the splendid
efforts of the American Breeders Association and those who have
contributed in the past to its publications. My wish is that their
efforts may be crowned with success.
Herd Book) Association." Very wisely the founders of this body refrained from starting a separate
Herd Book, which would have served no good object, but might have had the effect of splitting the
Shorthorn Interest into two distinct sections. Their object was not to Introduce a cleavage in the Short-
horn ranks, but to restore the reputation of the breed as general purpose cattle, and incidentally to
meet the growing national demand for milk."
The above article by Mr. Frank McCaffrey sets forth an Ideal condition under which to carry
forward to very great success some form of cooperative circuit breeding, such as Is being devel-
oped In this country. These Illawarra breeders have an Ideal basis in the hybrid product, after
several generations of intercrossing the Shorthorn, Ayrshire, and other stocks 01 British cattle.
This product naturally varies greatly with families and with individuals within the family.
Having been bred by men who are under the necessity of making their money largely out of
dairy products, combined with beef, doubtless very much of the unfruitful recombinations of
the hybrid stocks have been discarded. Doubtless among the splendid families now In the hands
of these breeders, there are occasional individuals and even families with very great power to
project high "dual purpose" excell< nee into their progeny. The governments 01 Australia and
of New South Wales could do no wiser thing In the interests of agriculture, than to thus cooper-
ate in providing the expert assistance needed in establishing In the counties of Camden and St.
Vincent, a breeding circuit similar to those being developed by the United States Department
of Agriculture in cooperation with the State Experiment Stations. — Tot Editor.
A HISTORY OF THE ARABIAN HORSE AND ITS
INFLUENCE ON MODERN BREEDS
F. Knorr
Mitchell, Nebraska
The origin and early history of the Arabian horse is shrouded in a
maze of myths and legends — some as charming as fairy tales. Many
who have written about this breed of horses have given one or the
other of these wonderful stories currency as fact, and have thereby
perhaps led the attention away from the real individuality of the
horse itself. The Arabian horse does not need the assistance of
legendary lore to prove its superiority. The facts of history, and
the real worth of the breed as we know it today, are sufficient to secure
for it the recognition it deserves.
There is a tradition in Arabia, that all of the pure-blooded Arabs
trace their ancestry to five mares. These five mares were owned by
Sheik Salaman, who was the fourth descendant from Ishmael, and
lived about 3000 years ago. These five mares fell to him as a dowry
upon his father's death; he complained about his inheritance, but
after being told that he received the greatest wealth that the land
possessed he was satisfied. In time these mares foaled, and thence-
forth the drove increased rapidly, and developed into the most won-
derful breed of horses man ever saw.
Another legend has it that a certain prophet selected the best
mares that could be secured in the land; these were enclosed in a
corral within sight of feed and water, but both of these were with-
held for several days. When the gates were opened the mares made
a wild rush for water and feed; just at that moment the war bugle
was sounded: five of the mares, half starved and famished for water,
halted, turned to their master, and were ready to carry him to battle.
These mares are supposed to be the ancestors of the present Arabian
horse.
A third story relates that the Arabians trace the ancestry of their
horses to those with which Mohammed made his escape to Mecca.
But recent investigations by Count De Canteleus show that instead
of escaping on horses, Mohammed at that time had only several
camels.
One legend refers to only one mare as the foundation animal.
A certain Sheik was pursued by the enemy. While taking a rest
by the wayside his mare gave birth to a colt. Being hard pressed
174
Knobr: A History of the Arabian Horse 175
he left the colt to its fate and continued his flight. The Sheik reached
camp in safety and after several hours the colt came running into
camp and this mare and colt were the foundation animals of the
breed.
Historical research has brought to light some facts which entirely
discredit all the legends. They do not show the use of the horse
so early as usually stated. Many writers on the Arabian horse
Ibu M*hhusb. A. N. G. B. No.Ji.
give its existence as early as 1635 B.C. We cannot find any refer-
ence to the horse outside of Egypt until Solomon's reign in 1015-
975 B.C., and even at that time all of the horses were recruited in
Egypt. We well know that in early Biblical times the ass was used
as beast of burden almost exclusively, and even at a later day the
wild ass is accredited with a greater speed than the horse. A
nomadic tribe of Aryan origin pushed out from the mother tribes
during one of their periodic migration waves, came drifting from the
north, to the plateau southeast of the Caspian Sea, where they
176 Americas Breeders Magazine
settled and founded Media. Juat when they came to that land is
not definitely known but it was previous to 625 B.C. These Medians
soon became known for their beautiful horses, that were "'as swift
as the wind." Horse racing was one of their pastimes and it at-
tracted many people form other lands. Previous to this time the
Olympian games at Athens had not included chariot racing but about
650 B.C. the chariot race for the first time played part in those games,
but with horses brought "from other lands." Where the Medes
secured their horses is not known. They may have brought them
from their original northern home, but there are strong reasons for
the supposition that these horses were the native wild horse of Media
and Mesopotamia and that they were there captured and domesti-
cated. When Naboplassar revolted in 625 B.C. and made alliance
with the Median King Cyaxares, the fusion of the armies brought
r
L
Knorr: A History of the Arajbian Horse 177
the Median horse to the south. Later when Nebuchadnezzar (604-
561 B.C.) extended his territory and built Babylon, subdued Jerusa-
lem, and began the siege of Tyre, he brought the Median horse with
his army into Syria. At this time horses were almost unknown in
f* Phoenicia. The Phoenicians were the greatest merchants of that
time; their ships and caravans were known everywhere, yet all their
land traffic was with camels. We find these merchants trading with
the Arabians, securing from them gold, spices and oils, but in no
instance do we find records where they traded their goods for horses.
When the Medes were finally conquered by the Persians in 558
B.C., and were later again taken from the Persians by the Greeks
under Alexander in 334 B.C., the rapid spread of the horse began,
and we have every reason to believe that Alexander introduced the
Arabian horse into the lands he conquered. Herodotus, the first
accurate historian whom the world had, states: That so late as 450
B.C. Arabia could not contribute any horses for Xerxes' armies,
but gave many camels. If the Arabians had had horses at that
time, Xerxes would certainly have procured them and the historian
would have noted the fact.
Some writers attribute the hardiness of the Arabian horses to
the adverse conditions under which they have been reared for these
several thousand years. We well know, however, that it is only
the best environment that brings out the best qualities in man and
beast. High excellence in animals cannot be produced under un-
favorable conditions — in fact, they deteriorate rather than improve.
How then can we accredit the desert, the sun-parched plains of Arabia
to be the home of the beautiful Arabian horse? All indications
point toward the grassy slopes and the foothills of the Caucasus
Mountains, where physical conditions are so similar to those we have
along the foothills of the Rockies where a dry climate and moderate
rainfall make good pasture but without the tendency to make a
soft, spongy hoof. Captain Upton in Frazier's Magazine (1876)
says : " The best breeding is not on the peninsula of Arabia, where the
water is only to be had from wells, but rather in Mesopotamia, and
the great pastoral districts bordering the Euphrates." All this
evidence leads up to the idea that the term "Arabian" horse is a
misnomer, for the breed was fully established before it was introduced
upon the plains of that land. That there is a gradual deterioration
taking place in that breed of horses upon its new and foreign breeding
ground, is proven by the improvement which the Arab is undergoing,
in this country in the hands of our best horsemen.
ITS Amehican Breeders Magazine
The Arabian horse has played no small part in the development
of all of our breeds of horses; the blood lines of all of our beat stock
trace back to some Arab or Barb. The race horse, trotter, saddler,
coach, and draft horse all have some Arab blood in their veins. It
is often said that this Arab blood, used so long ago, can leave no
trace at the present time, and that for speed the American horse is
a far superior animal. It matters not how long since the Arabian
blood was infused. It was the foundation stock in the development
of the horse and it gave us the animals that we now have. An
authority has this to say on that subject:*
« The Ham oj America, by Rank Foirat. vol. i. 1557.
Knorr: A History of the Arabian Horse 179
And though it can scarce be doubted that, in the very commencement of
turf -breeding there must have been some mixture of the best old English blood,
probably in great part of Spanish by descent, with the true Arab or Barb
race, the impure admixture is so exceedingly remote, not within fourteen or
fifteen generations that the present race-horse of England and North America
cannot possess one sixteen thousandth part of any other blood than that of the
Desert.
It is a long time since the horses Messenger, Diomed, Mambrino,
Justin Morgan, Bashew, Spark, Selina, Blaze, Fearnaught, Traveller
and Ethan Allen lived, yet our best stock traces back to them. With-
out Justin Morgan there would be no Morgan horse; Justin Morgan
was rich in Arab blood. Messenger and Diomed, the progenitors
of the American running horse were of like parentage. The beautiful
coach horses known as the Hackney trace their lineage to the Arabian
breed. At Fort Collins, Colorado, where the Department of Agricul-
ture is now trying to perfect a new type of carriage horse, there is
at the head of that stud, Carmon, who carries in his veins the blood
of the Arab. The powerful and massive Percheron, whose weight
at times exceeds a ton, is, in spite of its ponderous size, not without
grace and has certain lines of beauty, both of which it owes to the
Arab lineage which has removed that coarseness which prevails with
many breeds of draft horses.
Many horsemen make a distinction between the Arab and the
Barb, when in fact the difference is but slight. The Barb is more
often spoken of as inferior, yet in spite of this it is generally admitted
that the Barb has the better knee action of the two. The horses
of Spain are Barbs with a strong admixture of the best Arab blood.
Captain Upton wrote that not a single specimen of the Seglawi
Jedram breed, for which Mesopotamia was once so famous, can now
be found there. The Mohammedans when they moved westward
secured much of the equipment for their army in that country, and
no doubt appropriated most of its stock. They brought these with
thousands of other Arabian horses to the Spanish Peninsula. When
they were driven out of Spain many of the horses remained and these
together with the Barbs, contributed to the f oundation of the Spanish
breed of horses now known as Jennets.
The late Mr. Keene Richards spent much money in importing
and training the Arabian horses for racing purposes, and it was
unfortunate that just when results might have been expected the
Civil War dispersed his stud. However, his stock had its influence
on the horses of Kentucky, and their blood can be found in many of
180 American Breeders Magazine
the best pedigrees of the horses of today in that state. While some
pure-bred Arabs have been great race horses it is not for short dis-
tance racing that they should be tested. Put him, however, to the
severest long distance tests and to continuous daily hardships on
short rations of food or water, call on him for that emergency reserve
which may be the salvation of life, and his equal will not be found.
Grant him first place for weight-carrying and as a general purpose
horse and then mere speed assumes a place of minor importance.
As motor machines do more and more of the drudgery that hereto-
fore has been performed by horses, this noble animal comes to occupy
his original position in the world, that of the joy and companion of
man in times of peace, and a most valuable and dependable servant
in times of war. His superior intelligence gives him first rank for
service and use. His beauty is an asset of much greater value than
mere speed and it is his intelligent personality that goes to the heart
of every one who is fortunate enough to become the owner of an
Arab horse.
When horses will be bred for these highest uses and not for gambling
purposes then the Arab horse will become more and more the favorite
of horse lovers, and the public at large will be educated to appreciate
and value this breed. And in the same manner as the English
Thoroughbred and the American Trotter are superior to their Arab
ancestors for the special purposes for which they have been bred,
so the pure Arab, as he is now being bred in this country, for the
qualitie > which especially characterize this breed, will make the Arab-
ian horse of America the best in the world.
i
'r
' r
1 1
CONCERNING THE FAT-TAIL AND THE
BROAD-TAIL SHEEP
C. C. Young
Belen, Texas
This comprehensive treatise eonoernlng the fat-tall breeds of sheep of Asia is most suggestive.
This Is a most emphatic illustration of the fact that there Is needed a comprehensive campaign
In animal Introduction Into this new continent, similar to the campaign now being carried on In
the Introduction of seeds and plants. The campaign must be accompanied by the utmost prep-
aration and care to avoid admitting such animal diseases as we do not now have but which would
jeopardise our entire live stock Industry. Dr. Young's enterprising work should be encouraged In
all legitimate ways. It were better that both public and private agencies work In this new field
of developing fur and mutton breeds of hardy sheep. No one Is more sensible than the editor of
the fact that the worst which could happen to Dr. Young and his Infant Industry would be that
this kind of sheep breeding should become a fad — even a shadow of the Belgian Hare fad. As
to whether there Is profit In these sheep In a commercial way only time can tell. Estimates of
high priced rare skins are not quotations on commercial lots. This, as every other Industry,
needs to grow slowly and conservatively, until commercial quantities have proved out the profit-
ableness and the stability of the Industry. — The Editor.
In an article which appeared in the American Breeders 7 Magazine,
vol. ii, no. 1, 1911, the writer called the attention of the breeders to
the fur bearing broad-tail Karakul breeds. It is intended in this
article to correct certain statements which were then made in refer-
ence to the big Karakul class. Whilst the description of the exte-
rior of the big Arabi, so far as its habitat is concerned, was correct
we were mistaken somewhat as regards the weight, which does not
exceed that of the Lincoln sheep. The heaviest of all sheep in Asia
belong to the Ovis steatopyga class which has an average weight of
250 pounds and belongs to the Kamolaja Koordiutsnaja kind.
The literature that deals with this sheep is not extensive and
Russian authorities do not have much to say about it except that it
is a very hardy desert animal possessing most excellent mutton and
fat, but produces only fair fur. At present a commission authorized
by the Russian Department of Agriculture is collecting data regard-
ing this remarkable sheep, as well as other broad-tail and fat-tail
varieties, and before very long we expect to have something more to
say on this subject. This sheep crossed with our Lincolns ought to
give us the kind of a broad-tail that we alluded to in our former
article, and as but little Karakul pigment is required in order to
produce an excellent fur, thanks to the wonderful luster of our Lin-
colns, Cotswolds, Wensleydales, and especially the Leicesters and
Dartmores, we should have little trouble in producing the heaviest
fur bearing broad-taiJ in the world, even if it became necessary to
inject more Karakul pigment than an off-spring would possess result-
ing from a cross between a Kamoloja and a Lincoln, for instance.
181
182 American Breeders Magazine
There are about thirty different varieties of broad-tail and fat-
tail sheep and yet practically nothing has been written on this subject
by English writers, with exception of Prof. Robert Wallace of whom
we will speak later in connection with the broad-tail sheep of Cape
Colony. Some of the literature on these sheep has been translated
from the Tartar, a few German writers have also contributed valuable
information in a general way, but the classification seems to have
been made almost entirely by such Russian naturalists as Sinitzin,
Perepelkin, Kooleshov, Poniatovsky, Ivanaev, and others. We can
especially recommend the well illustrated books of the first and third
of these writers. No attempt has so far been made by any one to
translate these works into the English language, a task which the
writer has taken upon himself to perform. Another trip through
Central and Asia Minor will be necessary before we are satisfied
with certain classifications and can unhesitatingly state that we are of
the opinion that the small Karakul, which should properly be called
Arabi, is the original Ovis platyura from which all other sheep of the
same class, as well as the Ovis steotopyga, are descended.
Whilst all Russian writers practically agree with Sinitzin, who
today is considered an authority, that the Shirazi, Doozboy, Malitch,
Tartarska j a-Tooshinskaj a, Groozinskaj a, Osetinskaj a, Sokolska j a,
Resheteliovskaja, Bessarabskaja-Tshooshka are grade Arabis, this
cannot be said to be the case when it comes to the Ovis steotopyga.
The stand which we took that this sheep is also a grade Karakul
which owes its great hardiness and wonderful fat accumulating prop-
erties and black pigment to the Arabi, will be contested by certain
authorities, who apparently believe that the fat-tail sheep is of dif-
ferent origin, chiefly so, on account of its very short tail consisting
of only three to five vertebrae, and the peculiar position of the fat
pillows covering the buttocks. We have observed a great variation
in the size of the tails of the grade Karakuls, dependent entirely
upon whether the non-Karakuls possess a short or long tail, and
we think we are right in our assumption as expressed in the following
pages of this article, but admit that there are several anatomical
puzzles that we are unable at this time to answer, and we desire to
state that for the present Natusius and Bom may be justified in
their classification. Some broad-tails unquestionably have become
mixed with the fat-tails and the proofs offered by Bom in the case
of the Zigai is quite sufficient.
A number of preliminary experiments have been conducted by
the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, as well as by
Young: The Fat-Tail and The Broad-Tail Sheep 183
various breeders, indicating that we can not only compete with
Asia when it comes to the production of such grade Arabi pelts as
are known on the market under the trade name of Persian Lamb,
Astrachan, Krimmer, Afghan (called Caracul in this country), but
that we can excel that country greatly and with much less Karakul
blood. Quarter-blood Karakul-Lincoln skins have been produced
in Texas equal in luster and tight curl development to the best of
the so-called Persian Lamb skins, and as for the half-blood Karakul-
Lincoln pelts, there is nothing Asia can produce that can compare
with them. That proved to be the case, however, only where neces-
sary precaution was exercised in the selection of our American long-
wool ewes with the most luster. Some skins in this case were valued
by wholesale furriers at $10 each, and when one considers that in
the southwest at least two such skins can be produced annually from
a ewe, one can get some idea of the importance of this industry to
our breeders.
There is but little difference between the half-blood and quarter-
blood Karakul-Lincoln skins, the value as breeder depending upon
the luster and tightness of the curl at the time of birth. It has been
demonstrated that we cannot produce a marketable fur in the first
cross unless we confine ourselves to the lustrous long-wool sheep,
although good results have been obtained where half- and three-
quarter bred Lincoln-Shropshire ewes have been bred to half-blood
Karakul-Lincoln rams, the skins having been priced as high as $6.
The writer has one skin produced by Allbright from a half-blood
Karakul-Shropshire buck and a three-quarter bred Lincoln-Shrop-
shire ewe which is very pretty indeed, and while not yet priced, it
should be easily worth $5. Where Karakul bucks are employed that
are free from Afghan blood (tight-wool) we do not have to use full
blood long-wool ewes in order to produce $10 skins and the same
thing is true of the half-blood Karakul bucks, providing, however,
that such rams have no tight-wool admixture.
Very satisfactory results indeed were obtained on the ranch of
the Middle Water Cattle Company, and this is remarkable indeed,
as the ewes possessed considerable of tight-wool blood, which to a
certain degree was overcome by the presence of Karakul blood in
them. These ewes are known in this country by the fancy name of
Persian broad-tails, which at the best are half-blood Karakul-Tight-
wools, as we will explain later when we go into the question of Persian
Broad-tails and Persirianos. Some of these skins were priced by an
expert at $9, and the lambs from which these pelts were obtained
184 American Breeders Magazine
came from Persian broad-tail ewes sired by the two best bucks of
the original herd of fifteen which we brought to this country. We
were indeed surprised to find that some of these skins were in every
way equal to half-blood Lincoln pelts, which only serves to prove
that a certain amount of tight-wool blood can be overcome, providing
as already stated, the full blood Karakul rams are free from the tight-
wool taint. On our own ranch we learned that high grade Lincolns
gave us the same results as the full-bloods, providing the Karakul
bucks were free from tight-wool blood. Unfortunately in our first
herd, our expert whom we trusted, selected some Karakuls for us
that clearly show by their short and soft underwool that they contain
a tight-wool strain, which can only be overcome by breeding them
to the best types of lustrous long-wools. From a mutton standpoint,
nobody has made more valuable tests than Messrs. Rhome and
Goodnight, proving that Karakul-Shropshires with the Karakul
strain predominating, show a wonderful increase in weight and lambs
at 4 and 5 months have been found to weigh from 80 to 100 pounds.
The Armour Packing Company of Fort Worth, Texas, vouched for
these facts and also stated that the Karakul strain seems to have
the faculty of absolutely removing the disgareeable woolly and musk-
like flavor peculiar to the mutton of our tight-wools.
In our former article we spoke of the great hardiness of the Kara-
kul. For three months we were pasturing on the Mesa at Belen,
Texas, 200 high grade Lincolns, purchased from F. R. Gooding, and
some 30 Karakuls. Old settlers were of the opinion that Merinos
would have starved on this Mesa in one and a half months, as there
was practically no grass on it, and the sheep had to live off the little
brush and the few weeds found there. At the end of two months
we began losing Lincolns on account of starvation, and yet the
Karakuls were still in good shape. There is no doubt that the
Karakul sheep should be more generally introduced in the south-
west where sheep have to go a long distance for water and where
they cannot possibly exist unless they possess the rustling and
browsing qualities of the Mexican goat. From a strictly fur stand-
point, the Karakul will probably be better off in the north where
feed is more plentiful, as it has been found that unless the ewes
are in good shape the last two months of pregnancy, the lambs are
born with insufficient luster. Of course, in the irrigated districts
where alfalfa is raised this objection can easily be overcome. Breeders
of mutton, strictly should know that 25 per cent of Karakul blood
will make a great difference in their flock in hardiness, weight and
Young: The Fat-Tail and The Broad-Tail Sheep 185
quality of mutton. In thia case the Karakul bucks do not have to
possess luster and tight curls at birth.
Professor Nabours of the Kansas Agricultural College stated in a
lecture recently in Topeka, that in East India, Bokhara broad-tails
crossed with native coarse wool sheep produced lambs weighing
90 pounds when 4 months old ! This would tend to show that Rhome
did not exaggerate in his report; again Rhome's figures are admitted
to be correct by the Armour Packing Company. The writer is
of the opinion that half-blood Karakul-Lincoln lambs will show the
same weight, and before long we will know exactly, but it is doubtful
not sufficient proof that Pallace's ululficatlon
Ovls plstyura. ByiourWeyof Prlnoe Yermo-
Ioff.
whether it is safe to cross such half-blood rams on the small Merino
of the southwest and Mexico, as at birth the lambs will hardly be
able to pass the pelvic opening.
OVIS STEOTOPYGA OB THE FAT-TAIL SHEEP
This breed, according to Prof. P. N. Kooleshov, bears the name of
fat-tail sheep on account of the lobular accumulation of fat that is
located on the buttocks and on each side of the very short tail con-
186 American Breeders Magazine
sisting of only 3 to 5 vertebrae. There are generally two symmetrical
pillows on each side of the tail and these together with the short
tail constitute the so-called "Koordiuk" which in the fat sheep
weighs 30 pounds, but ordinarily weighs but 10 to 12 pounds. The
two symmetrical fat pillows on each side of the tail are covered on
top with long and stiff hair; underneath the surface is smooth and
free from hair. The peculiarity of storing fat in such big quantities
under the skin of the buttocks and tail is also characteristic of the
broad-tail sheep known as Ovis Platyura. From the tail of both of
these varieties one can ascertain the physical condition of these
animals for the better they are fed, the larger in proportion is the
"Koordiuk."
The fat-tail breeds are found in Asia, Africa and Russia. Accord-
ing to Robert Hartman, the fat-tail sheep originated in Arabia.
Pallas asserts that the fat-tail originated directly from the Argali.
Fitzinger, Wagner and Bom do not agree with Pallas. Fitzinger
divides the fat-tail into the following classes: Tartar, Mongol, Daur,
Burat, Khirgiz, Kalmik and Cape. A few fat-tails are found also
in Egypt, Noobia and Sennar, but it is an established fact that the
broad-tail sheep was in Africa several centuries before we had any
record of the presence there of the fat-tail sheep. In many places the
fat-tail sheep were crossed with the broad-tails in which case an
animal was obtained with a much shorter tail than either, and a
great many of these crosses are found in the Caucasus, and in the
dry steppes of the Precaspian Province of Central Asia. According
to Bom, the Madagascar, Mekka and Persian short-tail broad-tail
varieties (Shirazi, Zigai, Doozboy, etc.) belong also to this class. We
cannot agree with Bom, especially in regard to the Shirazi and
Doozboy, the former being Karakul long-wools and the latter Karakul
tight-wools. In many instances where the Karakul blood is in prepon-
derance the tail does not differ from that of a Karakul, although
in the Zigai the much shorter tail and other anatomical features
would indicate an admixture of the fat-tail strain.
When in this country a Karakul is crossed with an American
lustrous long-wool, we produce a magnificent fur, but our short-
wools or tight-wools give us fully as inferior and matty fur as is the
case with the Karakul tight-wools that Bom is attempting to connect
with the fat-tail sheep. In any event neither Sinitzin nor Ponia-
tovsky claim any such relationship. Of course, it would be very
interesting to find out just what went into the formation of the
Shirazi, Zigai, Doozboy, and other grade Karakuls. Roughly speaking,
Young; The Fat-Tail and The Broad-Tail Sheep 187
188 . American Breeders Magazine
we only know that it is either tight-wool or long-wool blood. The
fat-tail sheep are very numerous in Bessarabia, Charkov, Taurien,
Crimea, Ekaterinoslav, Astrachan and the Caucasus. In the Volga
district the fat-tails are known as "Ordi," also "Kirgizki-Tshoon-
tooki; ,, on the other side of the river Don, as "Kalmitskaja" and in
Crimea they are called Greek sheep. In the Caucasus there are
three classes, the so-called Mazechi, Bozachi and Karabachi.
Of late years these various sub-classes of fat-tail sheep have been
crossed with other varieties of Russian sheep, but in the Caucasus
and among the Nomadic tribes of Asiatic Russia the Ovis steotopyga
is still kept in a pure state. That this sheep can cover a large area
when necessary, is proven by its long and strong feet. The neck
is also very long, and its ability to digest the scantiest of feed on the
Steppes and even at that accumulate in no time immense quantities
of fat, marks this as a typical desert sheep. And why should it not?
Is its hardiness and rustling qualities not due to the Karakul blood
which it contains and to which it owes its great fat storing qualities?
Is the fact that those which resemble the Karakul most, actually
produce furs, not another proof? From what source did it derive
its black pigment if not from the Karakul? The weight is about 150
pounds; some types are much heavier. The nose line is greatly
bent and the tendons are of the strongest kind. Among both sexes
are those that are horned and others that are not. Some rams have
as many as 4 to 6 horns; the head is small and the ears are pendulous.
The fat-tail sheep is raised principally on account of its excellent
mutton and fat. The fat is used in place of butter, and is very
appetizing, and devoid of the strong wooly taste characteristic of
the European sheep.
The wool is of two kinds, the long hard coarse outer wool (Karakul)
and the soft fine under wool. The first is lustrous at birth, the latter
dull. This is precisely what happens in crossing a Karakul to any
tight-wool. It makes no difference how one might try to breed
the tight-wool strain out, it simply can't be done, unless a lustrous
long-wool is bred to the grade Karakul at least once. After several
more crosses with the pure Karakul the short soft under wool seems
gradually to disappear. The color of the wool is varied. Some is
auburn, whilst other is gray, black and even white. In some the
under wool is very lustrous and white with occasionally a black or
auburn hair (Karakul long-wool). Excellent skins are obtained from
the lambs of such ewes. The fur is either black or auburn with
very pronounced curls. Where could such ewes have gotten their
Young: The Fat-Tail and The Broad-Tail Sheep 189
pigment from if not from the Karakul which is the most lustrous
and highly pigmented animal known? The wool of the adult is used
in the production of the best of rugs and felt.
According to Glasco the wool of the Mazech is red, brown and
white, whereas the Bozach possess gray wool and the Arick is entirely
white. According to Sinitzin, fat-tail sheep have been raised in
Crimea for four hundred and fifty years, but today the Malitch is
replacing them rapidly because they produce a far superior fur.
The best of the so-called Malitches can hardly be differentiated
from the full-blood Bokhara Karakuls, and are known by every-
body to be Karakul long-wools, just such as we will have in America
before very long as the result of crossing Karakul rams to our Lin-
colns, Cotswolds and Leicester ewes. . If any enthusiast of the Ovis
sieotopyga prefers to believe that the Karakul has descended from it,
or that there is no relationship between the two, we have no objec-
tions. As for ourselves, after reading everything that we could find
during three years on this subject and seeing a number of the animals,
we have come to the conclusion that the fat-tail sheep is nothing
more than a grade Karakul, a fur producer where tight-wool blood
is absent, and a very hardy sheep with excellent mutton producing
qualities where tight-wool blood is present. What about the great
difference in the number of vertebrae composing the tail of the fat-
tails and broad-tails? In time we may offer a satisfactory explanation.
THE OVIS PLATYURA OR THE BROAD-TAIL SHEEP
The principal characteristic of this class is in their long fat tail
which consists of fifteen to twenty-four vertebrae. The tail is covered
on the outside with the same wool as the body and often comes clear
to the ground. In some classes great masses of fat surround the
tail from its setting to the tip, while in others the lower portion of
the tail is free from fat and therefore movable. The broad-tail
sheep is found in Africa, many parts of Asia and South Russia and
there are a few even in Southern Italy, and France. Prof. Robert
Wallace of the Edinburgh University, informs us that the native
of Cape Colony raise a broad-tail with very long feet and middle
weight, the tail weighing from 6£ to 16J pounds.
The broad-tails are less liable to scabies, than Merinos and other
tight-wools and their wool is coarse and long. Some of them have
horns, others have not (Natusius and Bom). Among the Russian
broadtails there are the common Russian broad-tail, the Karakul,
i!
Young: The Fat-Tail and The Broad-Tail Sheep 191
the Pirnaja and Voloshskaja. Most of these varieties are horned.
As for the ears, some have drooping ears, others only partly so and
some have ears standing straight up. Another characteristic of these
sheep is that when their lambs are killed shortly after birth, an excel-
lent fur is produced as is especially the case with the Karakuls and
Malitches. These sheep are raised almost entirely on account of
the great value of their lamb skins.
In the common Russian broad-tail the tail comes down clear to
the ground and is immense in size. This class is found in Bessarabia,
Donskaja, Olblast, Taurien Province and Ekaterinoslav. Average
weight about 140 pounds. The horns generally have two spiral
coils and finally greatly diverge laterally. The ears are semi-pendu-
lous and very long. The head and feet are covered with short white
hair with occasionally a black spot on these parts. This sheep has
a long hard outer wool and a short but a rather coarse yellow under
wool. The meat is the best known. That this class of sheep came
into Russia from Central Asia, the home of the Karakul which it
resembles greatly, is commonly conceded.
The Pirnaja Ovtsa. — This sheep resembles the so-called Tschoon-
tooki very much and in its makeup is a fat-tail rather than a broad-
tail sheep, but the horns are very much longer and in spiral fashion
protrude greatly. The ears stand up straight and the tail is even
shorter than in the Tshoontooki but with great fat accumulations on
the sides of the tail. The wool is white and it is not a fur producer.
The Department of Agriculture of Russia is of the opinion that
this is merely one of the several sub-classes of the Voloshskaja sheep
and bears no relationship to the Tshoontooki. The wool is some-
times black (no doubt due to a larger per cent of the black Karakul
pigment) and there are in Hungary the so-called black and gray,
"Zackelschafe" or "Voloschskaja," that must have still more Kara-
kul blood in them and like the Malitsch, give excellent fur and closely
resemble the Karakul. We understand that recently a small herd
of them were presented by the Emperor of Austria to the Argentine
Republic.
The Voloshakaja or Zackelschaf. — This broad-tail class is found
in Russia, Roumania, Austro-Hungary, and on the island of Crete.
At a distance some look like Angora goats with immense horns.
Most horns do not coil as is the case in the preceding class, but diverge
laterally and in some cases upward. The ears stand straight up,
although some are semi-drooping. Few have no horns. The tail
which is triangular, resembling a sugar beet, is larger than in the
192 American Breeders Magazine
common Russian broad-tail and manipular coupling is therefore neces-
sitated. The outer wool is white, seldom gray and black, very long
and coarse. The under wool is very fine, lustrous and in great demand
all over Europe by manufacturers of fine wool rugs. This breed of
broad-tail resembles the Voloshskaja sheep very much, and is
renowned for its most excellent meat. The Malitches are raised
exclusively in the Province of Taurien, and in Crimea. At the setting
of the large tail, consisting of twenty vertebrae, there are found great
quantities of fat. The hair is black, gray or white. The skins of
very young lambs give excellent fur and resemble our half-blood
American-Lincolns very much. In Crimea these sheep have been bred
for four hundred and fifty years and closely resemble the Karakul
or Arabi of Bokhara; especially in the formation of the rather tri-
angular tail. The ears are half drooping. The bones of the fore-
head are very protruding and the nose line is curving. The horns
are not unlike those of the common Russian broad-tail. The wool
is very long and coarse and either black or gray. In fact, they change
their color precisely as the Karakuls do, that is to say, when born the
lambs are jet black, and velvety in appearance; after three to four
months the hair becomes brownish and when one year old becomes
decidedly gray. Some lambs are gray when born, and produce
beautiful fur resembling black silver fox, but not many of this class
are raised.
From April 1 to September 1, the ewes are milked and give about
70 quarts of exceedingly rich milk, and from which the "Brinza"
cheese is made. In weight they compare favorably with our Shrop-
shires. The meat of the very young lambs brings from 30 to 50 cents
per pound and is regarded as a great delicacy. In that country
it is broiled barbecue fashion (Shashlik) and seasoned with parsley
and green onions, salt, pepper, the slightest trace of garlic and a
powder made from a plant native in Afghanistan and resembling
powdered grape leaves. It makes a most appetizing dish.
To the broad-tail class belong a number of breeds in the Caucasus,
but what little literature there is found on these breeds is in Asiatic
languages. The most important breeds are the "Tartarskaja-Too-
shinskaja," "Groozinskaja" and "Osetinskaja." They vary greatly
in weight and in the size of tail. The Caucasus breeds have very
long and lustrous wool and most beautiful pelts. According to
DeBitam, some have smooth, others very curly wool. K. D. Duna-
vsky states that the Tartarskaja-Tooshinskaja sheep resembles greatly
the Groozinskaja. The Tooshinskaja has white wool, except on
Young: The Fat-Tail and The Broad-Tail Sheep 193
the head, ears and feet which are covered with yellowish spots.
The head is small, hook-nosed; the horns long and spirally bent.
The females have no horns. The body is short, but broad. The
tail consists of sixteen vertebrae. The average weight is 140 pounds.
The wool is fine, long and very lustrous. The meat is very white
and excellent and the fat of the tail is used in place of butter and in
Tiflis brings practically the same price. The best of them are raised
in Cachetinia. When crossed with Oxfordshires a very good meat
is obtained.
Of great importance to the breeders of lamb skins are the so-called
Sokolskaja, Resheteliovskaja and Bessarabskaja-Tshooshka. These
varieties are unquestionably grade Karakuls and as there is no tight-
wool blood present, they give us excellent skins. They are classified
as belonging to the Long-tails or Ovis dolichura. We know that in
all quarter breds there is practically no change in the tail and as the
non-Karakul strain in these varieties possess a long tail, these fur
producing varieties cannot be classified with any other type except
the Long-tail Thin-tail. There are four varieties of fur produced
from these sheep, all of which have good luster and are black, but
they vary greatly in the formation of the curls, those with larger
curls resembling our half-blood Karakul-Lincoln pelts greatly, but
are much inferior in quality.
The Persian Broad-tail. — There are a great many varieties of
broad-tails in Persia, most important being the Arabi, Shirazi, Doozboy
and Zigai. A party in California brought some Shirazis to this
country and crossed them with Shropshires and called them Persian
broad-tails. The Shropshire blood made them Karakul or Arabi
tight-wools. They are therefore not fur producers, but are excellent
mutton sheep, possessing great hardiness, good weight and their
mutton is free to a large degree from the woolly flavor of our tight-
wools. All this is due of course to the Karakul blood, which gives
them a partial broad-tail effect. A half-blood Karakul-Lincoln is
more desirable as it will have still more weight, just as much hardi-
ness, better mutton and the best of fur, if crossed with lustrous
long-wools. Breeders should not be misled, as Persian broad-tails
do not produce the so-called Persian lamb pelts, which are beautiful
half- and three-quarter-blood Karakul long-wool lamb skins tanned
and dyed. Some breeders confound the Persian broad-tails of the
United States with Persirianos which is an injustice to the Persian
broad-tails, as the Persirianos, produced by crossing Persian broad-
tails with Merinos, contain only half as much Karakul blood and
194 American Breeders Magazine
should not be used for breeding purposes if Persian broad-tails can
be secured, as the Karakul blood is too dilute to do that name justice.
The Karakul Breeds. — The Karakul breeds are found in Arabia,
Palestine, Syria Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Persia, Afghanistan,
Chiva and especially Bokhara, which is the home of the Arabi from
which all other Karakul breeds descend. Today the Khanate of
Bokhara with its immense oasis is the one place where the pure Arabi
has been preserved, although a few are said to be found also in north-
'- ' u._Jill II III ■! !■!
This specimen apparently has less light wool In him than Is generally the caso, and la therefore a
fur producer. By courtesy of Prince Yermoloff.
eastern Persia and Chiva. According to Poniatovsky of Bokhara
and Sinitzin of Crimea, the name Karakul is applied not only to the
Arabi, but to all grade Arabi most important of which are the Shiraz,
Doozboy and Zigai.
The Shirazi is an Arabi Long-wool and like the Malitch an excel-
lent fur producer, whilst the Doozboy is an Arabi tight-wool which
has been crossed with certain varieties of the Ovis steotopyga (fat-tail)
giving us the Zigai. Unfortunately what little literature there is on
Young: The Fat-Tail and The Broad-Tail Sheep 195
the last three classes, is in Afghan, Persian and Tartar, and until the
Russian Commission gets out its book on fat-tail and broad-tail sheep,
we can say nothing more.
According to certain authors the small Arabi came to Bokhara
from Arabia and hence the name Arabi or Arap. This is doubtful,
b.IJYeah
if Afghan blood; nevertheless, In
. Exhibited Id Oiui
■lnlier 14. IS, IT, 19
This eve contains «ftra<r of A
luster. By courtesy of Joseph Slmt
but it must be added that Smitzin thinks it possible, being of the
opinion that the Arabi originated in a hot country which explains
its tight curls. He also believes that curls will only form in hot
countries, in men as well as animals, and cites as an example the
196 American Breeders Magazine
negro. The Uzbecks on the other hand claim that the Arabi which
they compare with the waves of a black lake (Kara-Kul, pronounced
Kool) came into the desert of Bokhara from the Pamyrs and that it
is a mountain sheep and that is the reason why it can endure the
cold as easily as it does. We agree with the Uzbecks for the ease with
which an Arabi climbs mountains is remarkable. Any sheep accus-
tomed to a warm climate when containing but 25 per cent of Arabi
M> courtesy of Prince Yermoloff.
blood, becomes at once a cold country sheep; nowhere is that fact
more appreciated than in Northern Asia. Burch found that a
quarter-bred Arabi-Merino could stand the coldest of weather and
blizzards in Michigan, and whilst Simonson reports a great loss of
Shropshires near Dalhart, Texas, last winter on account of the awful
snow storms, not one single Arabi succumbed. On the other hand,
we can say that six months during the hottest part of the summer
Young: The Fat-Tail and The Broad-Tail Sheep 197
in Coahuila, Mexico, did not seem to in the least affect our herd.
An experience of three years has shown us that the sheep can stand
extremely hot weather and very cold weather aa well. If the Arabi
came originally from Arabia, should we not find something in that
country that would serve as a proof? Yet, we need not expect any
information from that source; it is not to be had.
The natives point in the direction of Lhassa and Thibet, and the
Llama-Deli could probably enlighten us. Recently we had the pleas-
of Prince Ye mioLofl .
ure of talking to Lord Rochester who was one of the members of the
English military expedition that fought its way into the Forbidden
City. To my surprise he gave me the exact description of Sinitzin's
small Arabi and spoke of the wonderful beauty of the Iamb skins.
Efforts were made to get a few head out, but they all died from
improper care and lack of food whilst crossing the high mountains.
The small Arabi which is extremely hard to find, and when found
hard to purchase from the natives of Bokhara, has a narrow head,
198 American Breeders Magazine
elongated face, and slightly curving nose line, short ears, thin feet,
tail triangular and not as large as that of the large Arabi; weight
130 pounds. On the head, tail and feet, which are covered with jet
black, stiff, very lustrous hair, are found white spots, which may also
be noted on the sides. The wool is long, coarse and gray in the
adult, but jet black and in very tight beautiful curls the first few
FlO. 8— HALFfll.OOD K*H4KOLE-PEHaUN BROADTAIL
ry way equal to a halfblood Karakulc-Llncoln priced by New York wholesa
e lurrle
19.00. IF sold to retail lumen* or tallore It is easily worth 115.0(1 and wot
e valuable had the Persian Broadtail ewe not contained a strain of Shropshlr
blood.
days after birth. According to Sinitzin this is the type from which
all others originate, and they are found only in Bokhara, between the
river of Amu-Daria and the city of Bokhara. There is no fur on
earth that can compare with that of the small Arabi, when obtained
shortly after birth, and there is none on the market. Any one lucky
enough to own them, would not be apt to kill them for fur.
Young: The Fat-Tail and The Broad-Tail Sheep 199
The Large Arabi. — -This class, Sinitzin states, resulted from a cross
between the small Arabi and some fat-tail variety. If that is true
then such a fat-tail must have been cinnamon brown, as occasionally
a lamb comes of that color, instead of black. But even so, why
should the large Arabi have such an immense lyre-formed tail, with
an S-shaped appendage on the end? In our opinion this sheep was
produced by crossing the Shirazi with the small Arabi. We have
observed that where the so-called brown Persian broad-tail (Shirazi)
was crossed with one of our bucks (answering closely Sinitzin's
description of the small Arabi) an offspring was obtained in every
way closely resembling the large Arabi. In all cases magnificent
skins were obtained and this is something that should interest those
200 American Breeders Magazine
owners of Persian broad-tails, that have Shirazis that are compara-
tively free from tight-wool blood. The fact that they are brown
in color makes no difference, the offspring will nevertheless be black.
The large Arabi has a very massive head, short face, nose line
greatly curving, forming a convexity, the ears are drooping and
larger than in the small Arabi, sometimes the ears are absent; feet
are very strong, especially hind legs. The wool is coarse, hard and
long, and black at birth; in three or four months it turns brown and
in half a year gray, dark gray, seldom white and occasionally remains
dark brown. We do not think this sheep excels the Lincoln in weight,
but it is infinitely hardier, possessing the browsing qualities of the
Mexican Goat. There are quite a few of these, and one other type
is to be found resulting from crossing the small with the large Arabi;
they are also quite plentiful, some containing a slight Afghan strain
(on the tight-wool order).
The Small Arabi. — It is very difficult to find the small Arabi
and it takes a great deal of study to learn how to differentiate them
from the intermediate class. One can spend thousands of dollars
and cross the entire desert and return without having secured a
single small Arabi. Among our herd originally containing fifteen
head we find all three classes of Arabi represented, and we called
them the Karakul herd although properly the name Arabi should be
used.
During 1911 and up to very recently His Excellency Prince A.
Yermoloff, for twelve years Russian Minister of Agriculture, now
life Senator and Member of His Majesty's Council, has been kind
enough to gather certain data for the writer and it is due to his
efforts that we own today a very exhaustive report on Russian and
Asiatic sheep, issued by the Russian Department of Agriculture
at St. Petersburg. His Excellency, the Prince, also sent us Sinitzin's,
Perepelkin's and Kooleshov's books, also a number of photographs
for all of which courtesies we hereby express our gratitude.
TRANSMISSION OF COLOR AND COLOR MARK-
INGS IN HEREFORD-SHORTHORN
CROSSES*
P. E. FOGLB
Beaver Creek, North Carolina
The breeder, whether of plants or of animals, needs all the infor-
mation obtainable to assist in the creation of new stra : ns and the
improvement of the known strains, and especially is it needful for
the animal breeder to have all possible knowledge as his work is
slow at best.
The color factor is not a vital one at this time and perhaps never
will be, though even now certain colors are preferred and others
disliked by the buyer, and at some future time this preference and
dislike may become more pronounced.
I have done nothing new in collecting these records, but have
simply tabulated the results as they have appeared. Very little
seems to be known regarding the transmission of the color and color
markings in animals. I have not attempted a comprehensive classi-
fication of colors of hair, but have grouped the colors with which
I was immediately dealing in these experiments, under five general
groups as follows: Red, roan, spotted, white, red body with white
face. The animals coming under the first four groups are pure or
grade Shorthorns, the fifth the progeny of Herefoid bull with Short-
horn cows.
From 26 solid red or nearly solid red cows there came 35 calves
of which all had red bodies and white faces:
16 had red circles around eyes and spot on nose;
7 had red circles around eyes but no spot on nose;
2 had imperfect eye circles;
10 had no red on face.
From 7 roan cows there were 9 calves:
5 had roan bodies and white faces;
1 had red body and white face with no eye circles but spot on nose;
3 had red bodies, white faces with circles around eyes and spot on nose.
From 8 spotted cows there came 12 calves:
1 had red body and white face with eye circles around one eye only;
1 had red body and white face with imperfect eye circles;
* Progress report from Committee on Animal Hybrids. Prof. W. J. Spillman, Chairman.
201
202 American Breeders Magazine
7 had red bodies and white faces with circles around eyes and spot on nose;
2 had red bodies and white faces with no red on face, and
1 had roan body and white face.
From 2 white cows there were 6 calves:
All had roan bodies and white faces;
1 had imperfect eye circles and spot on the nose.
From 1 cow with red body and white face with circles around
eyes and spot on nose there came:
2 calves with red body and white face with no red on face.
From 3 cows with red bodies and white faces with red circles
around eyes there came:
3 calves with red bodies and white faces with no red on face.
From 3 cows with red bodies and white faces having no red on
the face there came:
3 calves with red bodies and white faces with no red on face.
From 3 cows with roan bodies and white faces there came 4 calves.
1 with red body and white face.
3 with roan bodies and white faces;
Placing the offspring of each of the different cows in separate
groups for comparison there is one spotted cow that had 4 calves
with red bodies and white faces, 2 of these calves had eye circles
and spot on nose; 1 had imperfect eye circles and 1 calf had no red
on face. Another spotted cow had two calves: 1 with red body,
white face and circles around one eye. One with roan body and
white face with no red on face. One cow white in color had 2 calves
both of which had roan bodies and white faces, but 1 had imperfect
eye circles and spot on nose. One red cow had 4 calves, all of which
had red bodies, white faces and circles around eyes. Another red
cow had 3 calves all of which had red bodies, white faces, eye circles
and large spot on nose.
One roan cow had 2 calves both of which had roan bodies and
white faces. Another roan cow had 2 calves, 1 of which had roan
body and white face. ...
Without detailing each case, where a cow had more than 1 calf
it may be stated, that in every instance where a red cow had more
than I -calf, those calves were all marked alike, with two exceptions;
namely: A Jersey cow that had 2 calves, 1 with red body, white
face and eye circles, the other with red body, white face and no red
Fogle: Transmission of Color and Color Markings 203
markings on face. A brown cow that had 3 calves, 1 with red body,
white face, eye circles and no spot on nose, 1 with red body, white
face, eye circles and no spot on nose, 1 with red body, white face
with no red markings on face.
Classifying the 50 calves which entered into those observations
according to color and markings we have:
33 or two-thirds had circles around eyes;
27 or practically one-half had spot on nose, of these only 1 had spot on
nose without eye circle;
7 had eye circles without spot on nose;
1 had circle around one eye only;
2 had imperfect eye circles;
12 had no red on face.
The proportions of two-thirds and one-half in relation to eye circle
and spot on nose, as given above, seems-to be fixed since it has held
true in all my tabulations, even when there were only a few calves
to record.
Summing up color markings of the roan calves we have out of
a total of 16 calves with roan bodies; 16 calves with white faces;
1 with imperfect eye circles and 15 without eye circles or red markings
on faces.
A few facts in transmission of color and markings have evidently
stood the test of time and until revised by future knowledge will
be cf assistance to the breeder. Thus the circle around eyes would
seem to go with the solid red color, as the greater number of red
calves carry the characteristic eye circle. The fact that out of 16
roan calves 15 have no red markings on face (having only imperfect
eye circles) strongly points to the dissociation of eye circles with
roan color. The cross of red and white result in roan, and the roan
cow, having received red from one parent and white from the other,
transmits the red to about half her offspring and roan to the other
half, so that about half the calves from a roan cow bred to a Hereford
bull will be red and the other half roan.
All cattle breeders who have handled grade Herefords will under-
stand what is meant by the eye circle and spot on nose. To those
not familiar with such cattle, I would explain, that when a red cow
is bred to a white face (Hereford) bull many of the offspring have a
red circle around each eye and a red spot on the nose, this spot vary-
ing in size from 2 inches in diameter to nearly covering the face.
It is of interest to note that this eye circle and spot disappear in
the offspring when a cow thus marked is bred back to a Hereford
204 American Breeders Magazine
bull. In other words, a three-fourths grade Hereford does not as
a rule show this characteristic mark. I am not prepared to say
this spot will be always removed in the first generation; it takes
several more crosses to permanently remove it, but from 10 cows
bred having white faces (4 with eye circles and 1 with spot on nose)
not a calf shows a sign of these marks. The keeping of records of
the transmission of color and color markings will be continued and
further reports, comprising larger numbers of cattle and extending
over several generations, will be made to the Association. It is as
yet too early to attempt to draw definite conclusions, but from the
results given above, the writer feels encouraged to continue, as the
road to definite knowledge is now cleared.
THE TURKEY AS AN EGG PRODUCER*
W. N. Iewin
Washington, D. C.
From the settlement of our country until the present time the
turkey is the only native b that has been brought under domestica-
tion. In our economic system the turkey has been used almost exclu-
sively as a bird for our table on Thanksgiving Day and other holiday
occasions. It has for this purpose earned a justly popular place in
the minds of our people.
According to the U. S. Census Report we had on June 1, 1900,
6,599,367 turkeys in the United States. These were undoubtedly
breeding stock, since there is no record of their being kept anywhere
for the sole purpose of producing eggs for the table, as is the case with
chickens and ducks.
In forty years' experience on farms in Ohio and Kansas, where we
were never without a small flock, the writer never knew or even heard
of turkeys laying more than one or two settings, and that always in
the early spring. I was ignorant of the fact that in some parts of our
great country there were some turkeys that continued to lay more or
less throughout the season from the latter part of March to January.
After living in Washington a few years I began the study of fruit
varieties grown in the vicinity by walking through the market lines
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, where the farmers within a radius
* Mr. Irwin prepared this paper shortly before his death, which occurred June 24, 1911.
D Both ducka and geese, have at different times and In limited numbers been domesticated, but
are now so mixed up with Asiatic and European species that It is very doubtful if there is a single
variety of purely American origin.
Irwin: The Turkey as an Egg Producer 205
of twenty-five miles bring every conceivable product of the farm and
woods. Early in July, about 1900, I saw some turkey eggs, but
scarcely glanced at them, thinking some one had found an abandoned
spring nest and that they would not be in condition for the table.
On another trip through the market I saw turkey eggs on two or
three different stands. Having tasted of turkey eggs in my boyhood
days, and remembering their delicious quality, I purchased some,
and after enjoying eating them, began a systematic search for all
I could find. From March to June, inclusive, the eggs are worth
$1.50 to $2.50 per dozen for hatching purposes. From July to Janu-
ary, inclusive, they are sold at about 5 cents per dozen above the price
for chicken eggs. For about ten years my family, as well as many of
our friends whom I have supplied, have been enjoying this truly native
American luxury. In no single year since I began have I purchased
less than twenty-five dozen eggs, while one year, 1903, from June 27
to December 31, I was able to secure 130-2/3 dozen, for which I
paid $42.57. In 1902, between July 15 and December 18, 53-2/3
dozen were purchased for $18.34. These eggs were bought from
farmers whom I found to be honest and truthful, one-half dozen to
a dozen per week, running along through the season. These farmers
are holding today many of the same customers they had when I
began with them. One farmer, Mr. Benj. Groves, informed me of a
hen that began laying the latter part of March and continued almost
continuously until the latter part of November. He was sure she
had laid 200 eggs. Having bought his eggs every week, 1 had no
cause for doubting his estimate. Other men have told me of birds
having laid as many as 150 eggs during the season.
This trait of the turkey here has been going on for so long a time
that people think it quite commonplace to see the eggs in the market
here. Many of my friends are buying and using them in preference
to chicken eggs.
Turkey eggs, which usually sell at 5 cents per dozen above the
price of chicken eggs, are more economical than any other, since they
average about 2\ pounds per dozen against 1$ pounds for chicken
eggs and seven-eighths of a pound for guinea eggs, which sell about
5 cents less per dozen than chicken eggs.
'Comparative Weights of Eggs Pbb Dozsn.
ounoes
Plymouth Rock 26
White Wyandotte 27
Guinea 13
Turkey , 42
PeklnDuek 36
Chinese Goose 64
American Breeders Magazine
Irwin: The Turkey as an Egg Producer 207
On account of the thicker shell and membranes surrounding the
contents they retain their good quality very much longer than chicken
eggs, which have thin shells and membranes.
holographed by E. L. CnrdaU.
. Photographed by E. L. Ctandall.
We have kept eggs purchased in September and October until
March when, on opening, the yolks would drop out round and plump,
and the white or albumen be perfectly normal.
208 American Breeders Magazine
In Allegan County, Michigan, and in one locality in Massachu-
setts turkeys are reported to me by thoroughly reliable parties as laying
quite regularly throughout the season, in the latter case continuing
into January.
If we can in a few decades breed up the turkeys to 100 eggs per
bird, which I believe is possible by proper selection from known good
layers, our six million turkeys would produce approximately 450,000,-
000 more eggs than we now are getting from them. At 3 cents per
egg this would add $13,500,000 to our annual wealth, besides mate-
rially strengthening our national supply of better foods.
The effort will not, or need not, cost much, so that in case of failure
we are no worse off than when we began.
Turkey chicks, 2 to 3 pounds in weight and certain to be from late
laying birds, are on the market here throughout the winter at eating
prices; $1 to $2 each ought to buy the best of these baby birds,
crated for shipment, where 3 or 4 are found at one time.
There are only a few female turkeys in this locality that lay eggs
out of the usual season; but from the fact that one of my friends
reports a similar case in Michigan and another in Massachusetts, it
would seem that there is a possibility or even a probability that there
are a few of these good layers scattered possibly all over the country.
That this proposition will be ridiculed by wise men, laughed at
by fools, discussed by intelligent people, and finally adopted and a
new and profitable enterprise added to our poultry industry, I have
not the slightest doubt. Every proposition for the betterment of
man's condition on the earth, from the time Christopher Columbus
started out to discover the New World to the present time, has
received like treatment. When Marcus Whitman in the winter of
1842-3 rode on horseback from Oregon to St. Louis and thence by
boat and stage proceeded to Washington to protest against Great
Britain securing control of our Pacific Coast country, that great and
wise statesman, Daniel Webster, to whom as Secretary of State Mr.
Whitman appealed, took from his pocket a copper cent and flipping
it on his fingers said: "Whitman, I would not give that for all beyond
the Rocky Mountains; we could never defend it, nor get across the
mountains to it. " If Mr. Webster could return and view the millions
of happy and prosperous people enjoying a contented life in that
salubrious climate, and could know how helpful that country was to
the east in shipping its 50,000 to 75,000 cars of fruit a year, he would,
1 think, admit that his conception of the value of that country had
been very poor indeed.
THE EVOLUTION OF A TYPE OF HORSE
W. S. Anderson
Winchester , Kentucky
The early settlors of America imported from Europe their general
purpose horse. Later, when a horse was needed by the sportsman,
the thoroughbred was brought over the Atlantic. Later still, the
demand arose for a heavy draft horse and he, too, had to come across
the water. But there has since been developed, mostly from thor-
oughbred blood, a horse peculiar to this country, known as the Ameri-
can Trotter. The families of this standard bred horse are so diverse
that it cannot yet be called a distinct breed.
Near the beginning of the nineteenth century there had sprung
up, as by chance, in the state of Vermont, a breed of horses called
the Morgan Horse. This breed all trace to a horse of unknown
ancestry whose name was Justin Morgan. He was taken from
Massachusetts to Randolph, Vermont, when a two-year-old colt.
Farm mares were taken to his service, and by inbreeding his get, a
very compactly built, serviceable and beautiful type of horse was
produced. It is a very great misfortune, to the horsebreeding indus-
try of our country, that this very superior type of horse should have
been, by out crossing, almost lost as a pure breed.
Something over fifty years ago, there were developed the first
saddle and show horses. These were produced by mingling the
blood of the thoroughbred and that of the common farm horse.
Owing to the great varieties of blood lines there has been no stability
in the families of these saddle horses. By fortuitous combinations
an occasional animal of real greatness was bred. As the production
of such a horse had been largely accidental, so matings were made
with him in a like haphazard way. The industry of producing saddle
horses is even now in much the same chaotic condition. The owner
of Harrison Chief used to say that one show horse was all a man could
reasonably hope to produce in a life time.
It is easy now for the student, acquainted with the Mendelian
laws of hybrid behavior, to see why these early breeders so often
failed. They had too many undesirable traits in the germ plasm of
their best horses. It is difficult enough to get a pure bred horse
when only two traits are involved in the hybrid ancestry; but when
a half dozen, or more, are wrapped up in the germ plasm it is a task
almost impossible to obtain a strain that will breed true. To place
the fine horse industry on any thing like a scientific basis, it is neces-
sary to eliminate the hybrid.
209
210 American Breeders Magazine
So far as is known to this writer, but one earnest and intelligent
attempt has been made to evolve a pure bred type of saddle horse.
It is to tell of this work and its success that I write this paper. Thirty
years ago a young man, J. Gano Johnson, in Montgomery County,
Kentucky, undertook to evolve a saddle horse that would breed
true to type. He was aware of the distinct breeds of beef and dairy
cattle, of draft horses, of hogs and of sheep, so he reasoned that the
fine horse is of more value than a sheep. Why not a type of the
saddle horse? Even at the time he began thus to reason he was a
practical horse breeder, and knew something of the magnitude of
the task he was about to undertake; but he did not fully realize,
until later years, the extreme difficulty of realizing his ideal. It
must be noted that the horse to be evolved had to be the result of
hybridization. As a matter of fact, when an analysis is made of
the blood lines of the breed produced, it is found to come from four
sources. First, the farm horse, second the thoroughbred, third the
trotter, and last the Morgan Horse.
The following three sires, each great in his respective line, John-
son chose as the ones to furnish the foundation material for his new
horse: Indian Chief, descended from Justin Morgan through Sher-
man Morgan, Vermonts Black Hawk and Bloods Black Hawk who
dominated the show rings of Kentucky for the twenty years pre-
ceding his death in 1879. At St. Louis in 1868 he won three firsts;
namely for best harness stallion, for best roadster, for sweepstakes
for all ages and sexes. In this last contest there were sixty-three
competitors. Harrison Chief foaled in 1872, goes back to Imported
Messenger through Clark Chief, Mambrino Chief, Mambrino Pay-
master, and Mambrino, and was during his day one of the distin-
guished horses of Kentucky. The third great sire chosen was
Wilkes, by Hambletonian 10, the most prepotent of trotting sires.
All three sires were of the light harness type rather than the saddle
conformation. In the great speed of Wilkes, the soundness, strength
and action of Harrison, and the intelligence and refinement of Indian,
he believed that he had the essential elements to make a great breed
of fine horses. He believed that up to his death Indian Chief was
the greatest individual horse that had been bred in America. This
opinion is verified by the unique distinction which Indian has of
having to his credit a number, through his own quality and that of
his sons and daughters, among the great sires of the American
Trotting Register, the American Saddle Horse Register, and the
Morgan Register. So the descendants of these three were used,
drawing on just as little material, from other- sources, a& possible. .. .
Anderson: The Evolution of a Type of Horse 211
The saddle horse is also a carriage horse. That is to say, the horse
which has the saddle gaits, walk, canter, rack and fox-trot, is also
trained to trot in harness. It is hot enough that the show horse
shall be fast at the gaits, but he must also be beautiful of conforma-
tion, carriage and style. As a matter of fact, as the fine horse exists
at present, he is a most intelligent and a most beautiful as well as
a most useful animal.
After studying the available material, Johnson thought he saw
points of perfection in the various individuals of his foundation
animals, which if properly combined in a horse would make him a
perfect one. In the descendents of the three foundation sires there
were these qualities: the refined, bony head, the large, mild eye,
the neatly pointed ear, the long, gracefully arched neck, high withers,
the straight barrel ribbing out to the hips, the short back, the full
round quarter well let down, the short sturdy legs, the wide strong
bone, the flat foot, beauty, animation, brilliant action, extreme speed,
docility and intelligence. The task was one of selection and of
combination.
. He did not have MendePs work as a guide. At the time that this
work on the new type began, the monumental paper of Mendel had
not been discovered, and was not for nearly twenty years afterward.
He possessed but little theoretical knowledge of biology, but he
knew the points of the horse, and had a clear idea of the type he
set out to breed. Dominant and recessive unit characters were
unknown — at any rate by such names — yet he had learned by study-
ing the behavior of various traits that some always made themselves
manifest in the soma and others did not, but might be passed on by
the animal whose body was free from them. His breeding has been
done with what he calls "manifested characteristics" and "latent"
ones. These, of course, prove to be nothing more nor less than the
dominant and recessive unit characters. Without their independent
discovery his work would have been a failure. For example, he
must have in his horse the flat, strong foot, as contrasted to the
narrow "mule" foot. He needed a heavy tail and a water-spout
tail carriage. He required the flat, strong bone, rather than the
round, weak one. Some otherwise good horses had thick, heavy ears,
and in their stead there must be the thin, slender, pointed ear. The
lung capacity and the walls of the heart must insure strength and
endurance. In short, no point of weakness or of coarseness must be
allowed. To make progress the breeder had to learn how these
various characteristics behave as they pass from parents to offspring.
212 American Breeders Magazine
Had he depended on the result of the matings which he alone could
make the knowledge would have come but slowly. The farm on
which all this work was done, is in the very center of the fine horse
industry. Every other breeder's results could be and were studied.
The same blood lines were being used near by.
The very first conclusion was that the method of continued cross
breeding usually practised, would not lead to the goal. The hybrid
was essential to mix the ingredients, but when it did that, its useful-
ness ended. So the first endeavor was to get the same desirable
points in both sire and dam, or in other words, to make the qualities
pure bred. With the great scarcity of animals of like desirable
traits it was however impossible to reach the pure bred condition for
any qualities except by inbreeding. There was, and is yet, a deep
seated prejudice against the inbreeding of horses. There are even
those who consider it morally wrong. These views are exceedingly
narrow, yet to go counter to traditional belief is no pleasant experi-
ence. His task was all the more difficult because he himself could
not foretell just what the results of inbreeding would be on the fami-
lies in use. Trial furnished the evidence that it was safe to inbreed.
By this method groups of qualities were soon secured pure-bred.
Just here, I must not fail to say that Johnson could afford to own but
few of the great horses whose blood he was mingling. Such horses
are very expensive. It was necessary for him to make a living as
well as move toward his ideal. This necessitated the sale of many
excellent individuals which should never have left the stud. Out
crossing in other studs soon dissipated their excellence.
Harrison Chief had two renowned sons, Bourbon Chief and Wilson's
King. Johnson bought and brought to Montgomery County the
former, Bourbon Chief, using freely these two distinguished sons
of Harrison Chief.
The second conclusion to be reached as a result of this work was
that the shortest route to the goal lay in the female ancestry and
not the male. Stallions are more expensive than mares, and of
little value unless mares of like qualities can be had to mate with
them. Then, too, it is easy to get the services of a great stallion
without owning him. So he determined to develop a line of brood
mares, by inbreeding, which should have the points of excellence
which he needed in his ideal horse. One of these, Queen, traces
through Whirlwind to Indian Chief; and through Gov. Wilkes to
both Indian Chief and Geo. Wilkes. While her sire, Red Cloud,
was by Indian Chief and out of the dam of Wilson's King. In addi-
Anderson: The Evolution op a Type of Horse 213
214 American Breeders Magazine
tion to this there were in her ancestry two notable show mares:
Daisy Burns, and Bird. This beautiful inbred mare, Queen, was
mated with Wilson's King.
From thisfmating was expected the best horse he had yet pro-
duced. He liad such an accurate knowledge of every feature, and
the source pi every quality of both Queen and King that he knew
what the result must be. The colt, Golden King, verified every
expectation. This animal is not for sale; years of work have been
spent to produce him that there might be a stallion who could be
successfully bred to a line of mares from that other great son of
Harrison, Bourbon Chief.
The half brother of Golden King, Cloud King, by Wilson's King
out of May Chief by Harrison Chief, is scarcely less famous than
Golden himself. Both are show horses, both are successful as sires.
To have evolved these stallions alone would have been of but little
value to the fine horse industry, unless at the same time a line of
mares worthy to mate with them had also been developed. This
was done, not only by Johnson but also by others who owned horses
of the same blood lines and who believed in the same methods of
inbreeding and line breeding. By the time these stallions were
ready for service there were many mares pure bred for their qualities,
and many more, nearly so. From the pure bred ones and these
stallions have come foals of the type. The oldest of these are now
producing and their produce are likewise of the type.
The horse of the imagination has been made a reality. There
are in this stud a number of sons of Golden King, matured or just
maturing, of whom he is the prototype. There are owned by pro-
gressive horsemen in Montgomery and surrounding counties many
more horses which show considerable resemblance to that type.
Thus as a breeder he has rendered a service of great value to his
state and nation, by evolving a new type of saddle horse. I call
this type the Johnson Horse.
The distinctive features of the type are: intelligence and docility;
beauty with most graceful lines; soundness, stamina and strength;
height 15.3; short, strong legs set on the four corners of the body;
a short back, broad and deep over the loins; long, graceful neck rising
out of neatly turned withers.; delicate head and sensitive ears; three
natural gaits — walk, trot and gallop, the other gaits easily acquired;
in action, "The hocks set well up under the body, the knee breaks
over hi a fold, every joint flexing from the shoulder down in just the
right angle to give the utmost roundness of leg fall, every foot falls
Anderson: The Evolution of a Type of Horse 215.
in the right place in the right way, all with purity of motion;" in
speed unsurpassed; color bay or chestnut. I think I am justified
in saying that the Johnson Horse is an improved Morgan, revised
and brought up to date: a Morgan, improved in conformation, size,
beauty, action, speed, with all the strength, soundness, and endur-
ance of the old Vermont breed.
With permission of Lieut. R. M. Danford U. S. A. the measure-
ments recently made of Golden King are given herewith: "He stands
15.3, and weighs 1200 pounds. From girth line (just back of the
withers) over withers, neck, and forehead to line between the eyes,
53J inches; across hips, 21 inches; hips to point of buttocks, 25 inches;
length of back (from girth line to line joining points of hips), 13
inches; around hocks, 17 inches; around leg below hocks, 9 inches;
below knee, 8 inches; girth, 72J inches; around loin and belly, 73^
inches." The mature sons of Golden King, as Kentucky Golden,
Pure Gold, Peter Rabbit, and Young Bill, are so near like him that
a stranger finds it difficult to distinguish the sons from one another
or from their sire. . .:'..
216 American Breeders Magazine
The unit characters of the horse may, in a tentative way, be
stated to be as follows: that the finer qualities are recessive to the
coarse ones; as the thin, pointed ear is recessive to the heavy thick
one; the clean, small head recessive to its opposite; the short neck
recessive to the long one; the flat foot recessive to the "mule" foot;
the calf knee dominant to the straight, perfect knee; strength domi-
nant to weakness; true action and superior action recessive to untrue
and inferior action. In color, chestnut is recessive to grey bay
and black.
This mast be understood as a working hypothesis only. It must
be remembered that qualities go in groups. Often a blend of antago-
nistic traits is a blend only in appearance, and will segregate in a later
generation. I have notes made on matings during the last breeding
season which, when the foals come, will no doubt throw some light
on the dominant and recessive characters of the horse. It may be
possible to work out the unit characters of the horse, and to this
task the writer expects to devote much of his time.
ORIGIN AND DESCENT OF THE NORWEGIAN
BREEDS OF CATTLE*
Dr. J. Frost
Kristiana, Denmark
In some recent contributions to the publications of the German
Agricultural Society, Dr. Dettweiler discusses the origin and descent
of certain races of cattle whence the various European breeds of
cattle are supposed to have sprung, and reverses what, heretofore,
has been the almost universally accepted theory, namely; that the
black, black and white, and black spotted cattle were originally
the cattle of the primitive Germans, and the red and red spotted
cattle belonged to some pre or post Germanic race. The black cattle
were usually denominated offhand, Germanic cattle, and the red and
vari-colored cattle, the Celtic cattle. Dettweiler, as noted, reverses
the positions of these two races of cattle and his statements have so
far not been contradicted, according to the best of my knowledge.
In the following I will discuss his theory, with special reference
to cattle in Norway, and will show that the theory is applicable
also to breeds in that country.
The theory which he advances is briefly as follows:
a tobOi & en Clonic Brachycephal.
Frost: Norwegian Breeds of Cattle 217
The red breed of cattle are the Germanic cattle and were tamed
and bred by the ancient Germans. Long before the Celtic occupancy
of western Europe the race of black cattle was tamed by the Celts,
somewhere in the interior of Russia, whence these cattle were brought
along on their migrations through north Germany, Denmark, and
other countries, in which the Celts had settled on dispersing over
western Europe. Dettweiler places this immigration of the Celts
into Europe at about 2000 years before Christ, or even earlier.
The black spotted Celtic cattle had come into Norway from Jut-
land. Dettweiler says:
The appearance of the black color in cattle on the coast of Norway by the
proximity of Jutland, is not at all remarkable. Ethnologically speaking, the
existence there of a race of people which was a derivation from the pure north-
Germanic type has been established; but I do not know whether the area of
the expansion of these people covers that of the black and white breed of cattle.
To arrive at a solution of the problem of the derivation of the
breeds of cattle in Norway it is necessary to ascertain whence came
the first settlers of that country, for the assumption closest at hand
is that different races or breeds of cattle were brought thither by
various peoples coming there, especially as we know that Norway
was settled by different bands of migrants. The first remains found
of man in Norway date with certainty to the earlier stone age.
Those earliest occupants, as a matter of course, led a very primitive
existence. They were mostly fisherman and hunters, and their only
domestic animal was the dog.
The Norwegian coasts of those days were rather inhospitable and
offered much less favorable conditions for a dense population than
today. Therefore, this first population cannot have been numerous,
but it spread over almost the whole of the peninsula, that is from
south to north and from west to east. The largest settlements were
on the southwest coast by reason of people coming there first.
They were members of a race of people which, during the stone
period, inhabited the coasts bordering on the North Sea, and with-
out doubt had come there from the south or east of Europe.
This North Sea race of the stone age was characterized by blond
hair and round skulls and was apparently closely akin to the Finns
of today; it occupied the whole of western Europe from Jutland to
northwest Germany, included Holland, and extended clear to Scot-
land. From Jutland these "blond, round heads" flocked in large
numbers to the nearest landing places on the south and southwest
coast of Norway, and from there pressed forward north and east.
218 American Breeders Magazine
At the close of the early stone period the inhabitants of southern
Norway gradually took to agriculture and cattle husbandry and
all the more fertile valleys became populous and well settled by a
permanent population.
Whence came the first horses and cattle to Norway is still a matter
of conjecture. However, there is much in favor of the supposition
that the immigration of the before-mentioned people of the early
stone age was not a sudden movement, but took place in successive
periods and that these immigrants brought their domesticated animals
from Jutland or Friesland. Among these was also the horse, which
at that time was common to all the territory adjacent to the North
Sea, and was related to the horses of the primitive Finns, and not,
as is. generally asserted, the Celts. From this horse has descended
the Fjord horse of today. It is a small horse which is closely re-
lated to the horses which are being bred in Ireland, the Hebrides,
the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland. The Fjord
horses, as indicated by the name, originated in Norway on the
Fjords of the western coasts which, during the stone age as before
explained, were inhabited by a people belonging to the North
Sea race.
In the eastern portion of Norway, that which was inhabited by
an ancient Germanic population, was bred an entirely different
breed of horses, which might be designated as the northernmost
branch of the Occidental horse. It is the same horse which has in
Denmark developed into the present day Sudlander, in the adjacent
portions of northwest Germany into the Marsh horse, and in Holland
into the Friesian horse. In Norway the best and most typical repre-
sentatives of this breed of horses, are the "Gudbrandsdaler."
Just as the Norwegian horses may be divided into two large groups,
namely, those of Germanic and those of non-Germanic origin, we
may similarly group the breeds of their cattle. The first cattle
in Norway, as the first horses, were owned by that North sea race
of the stone age, which sometime probably brought them along
from the interior of what is today Russia. In color those cattle
were black or black spotted, and are presumably the ancestors of the
black and white cattle which may at the present time be found in
the countries of northwest Europe.
Jutland is assumed by Dettweiler to be the source whence the
black-and-white cattle came to Germany and Holland within com-
paratively recent times and even to different sections of Norway in
earlier (prehistoric) times. There is much to be said in favor of
Frost: Norwegian Breeds of Cattle 219
this assumption as it is fairly definitely established that the inhab-
itants of southwest Norway had come from Jutland.
The year 1750 B. C, approximately, marked the beginning of the
bronze age in Scandinavia. There is no evidence that a new race
of people had come into Norway at the beginning of the bronze age,
instead, the civilization of the people of the stone age advanced
slowly into that of the bronze age. Agriculture played an important
part, and about the same domestic animals were kept then as are
kept today . b
Toward the end of the bronze age and at the beginning of the iron
age there seems to have taken place an immigration of Celts into
Norway. In ancient remains, forms of skulls characteristic of the
Celts have been found, and similar skull formation may be found
there among the living, at the present time. Arbo, the eminent
Norwegian specialist in skull measurements calls them the " black
round-heads" in contradistinction to the considerably older "blonde
round-heads/ ' The former are rarer than the blonds but they occur
less localized.
Little is known of the earlier periods of the iron age, whose begin-
ning is generally estimated at about 500 years B.C. The oldest
finds, dating from the iron age, point to the Celts as having occupied
middle Europe during those last few centuries before Christ. There-
fore, it was not Celts who had bred cattle or introduced cattle hus-
bandry to any appreciable extent into Norway as raising and breed-
ing of cattle are of much older standing than the immigration thither
of Celtic elements. For Holland as well as Belgium I have been
able to fix the time of the Celtic immigration at as late as the last
centuries before Christ. A safe assumption is therefore to credit
the first Norwegian breeds of cattle and horses as well as the first
breeding operations to the so-called North Sea race of the stone age.
It is true, further, that the cattle coming from Jutland to the
west coast of Norway were black-and-white spotted and black, as
the majority of their decendants have remained till today.
Wherever, in Norway one finds descendants of the blond haired
and round skulled race, which in the stone age had settled south and
west Norway, one may come across the black, gray, and black or
gray spotted cattle, all the way from the province Jaderen south
of Stavanger, clear up to the Lofoten with the exception of a few
scattered red cattle, in portions which demonstrably were settled
b Schetellg, Veattandetz dldste Kulturhistorie.
Frost, Agrarversammulung and Landwirtschaft in den Underlanden, in Belgium.
^■■^- - v-
220 American Breeders Magazine
by the Germans before mentioned. Such is, for instance the case
with the country around Drontheim.
The majority of and the most typical of Norway's population
today, is blond, tall and blue eyed, having the long skulls of the true
north Germanic race. These ancient Germans originally came to
Norway from the east or the south-east but the time when this
occurred is unknown. It is supposed that this so-called north Ger-
manic race occupied nearly all of Sweden in the early stone age,
while according to Arbo, their appearance in Norway, in the iron
age, occurrred 2000 years later. It is probable that their advance
into Norway during these 2000 years took place by degrees. They
came there as families and kinship groups carrying on farming and
cattle breeding. They chose the best and most fertile valleys, con-
quering and driving before them the resident population and convert-
ing the best and most productive portions of the country into more
or less purely Germanic colonies. They brought with them their
horses and their red cattle, which without doubt they had bred in
their Swedish home for thousands of years before.
If it be true that a north Germanic people lived in Sweden as
early as the earliest stone period, it is most plausible to accept with
Dettweiler and Holdefleiss that the red Germanic cattle descended
from a species of bovines which was first tamed, domesticated and
bred in Scandinavia, and that the Scandinavian breed called the
Fjell cattle is one of the purest and oldest of breeds. d
The descendants of the red Germanic cattle are now in evidence
wherever, in Norway, the preponderance of the population is de-
scended from that ancient Germanic people, as for example, in all
the valleys of eastern Norway; in Osterdal, Gudbrandsdal, Numeda 1 ,
Glommental, Satersdal, as well as the whole of the province of Tele-
marken, in Drontheim and in the colony of Osterdale peasants in the
extreme north in Bardu and Maalselovdal.
In course of time a great number of other and different breeds of
cattle came to Norway either in herds which the immigrants brought
with them, or as individuals which the Vikings brought back as
booty from their raids. Crossing and greatly differing environment
brought forth several different types or breeds of cattle which we
find in Norway today.
For purposes of improvement of the native cattle much breeding
stock has been imported during the past century; notably, Ayrshires.
d Holdefleiss, Uber die Herkunft und Systematlk unaeres Hausrindes. I Hits. Landw. Zeituno
28: 10, 1911.
Frost: Norwegian Breeds of Cattle 221
Notwithstanding that a certain amount of blurring of the original
race characters took place in the course of the thousands of years
past, the distinctive features of the various breeds (or races) have
maintained themselves in Norway more completely perhaps than
in other countries. High mountains, broad streams and deeply
cut fjords interposed the most difficult obstacles conceivable to com-
munication between even adjacent districts and thereby prevented
any extensive and general mixture of the original breed characteristics.
Norway is a particularly profitable field of study for the ethnolo-
gist, because the different racial elements which originally took part
in settling that country, have maintained themselves in a comparative
state of purity and distinctiveness to this day and the same is true
in even a greater measure of breeds of cattle.
Dettweiler's theories cannot be demonstrated as absolutely true;
they are hypotheses just as are the foregoing statements concerning
the original settlement of Norway in prehistoric times. But as
all the facts regarding the first men, the first horses, and the first
cattle in Norway cover each other to a remarkable degree, we feel
justified in accepting the correctness of Dettweiler's theory of a red
Germanic breed of cattle and of a black post-Germanic breed of
cattle. 6
6 Mitteilungen der Deutzchen Landurirtacha-GeselUchaft. No. 53, 1911. Translation by Mrs. O. S.
Knorr, Washington, D. C.
EDITORIALS
THE PEDAGOGICS OF EUGENICS
One of the marvels of the new century is the rapid popularizatioD
of the subject of eugenics. In 1906 when the secretary of the Ameri-
can Breeders Association announced the intention of organizing a
committee on eugenics a large part of the daily press treated the
matter with levity and ridicule. But the public viewpoint has
undergone a radical change, in no small part due to the work of the
Association. Now, in all the substantial popular magazines and
even in daily papers, appear articles which in subject matter are
quite as progressive as those admitted to the Association's own
publications. The facts presented by such Association workers as
Dr. Davenport, Dr. Goddard, Dr. Rodgers, Dr. Southard, and others
in this country and in Europe by Galton, Mudge, Reid, Ploetz,
Pearson and a host of others have been so convincing that the
new subject has already won its field; and the movement to know
man's heredity and to utilize this knowledge in producing races of
higher efficacy and capabilities, has suddenly become world-wide.
The Association, having assumed responsibilities in helping to guide
the eugenics movement in safe channels, is itself just beginning to
comprehend the magnitude, the importance, the complexity and
difficulties of the task. Suggestions are arising from every stand-
point. The public, having accepted as a fact that there is need of
reforms, is ready for instruction and guidance. The policy of the
Association has been to investigate vigorously rather than to preach;
to learn the truth and allow the truth to be its own power. As a
group the members of the Association have chosen the r61e of re-
searchers rather than that of propagandists. We have amply proven
that our point of view is that of true science. The country has taken
us at our word. We have gained a respectful hearing from the
intelligent people of the continent.
In the meantime eugenics has come to be the subject of popular
discussion, of collegiate instruction, of legislative enactment. It
seems, that the era of instruction, of advice, of defining public and
private policies, of the practice of scientific eugenics had made an
earlier advent than the most optimistic propagandists thought possi-
ble. Those who have had the foresight to see this new field of service,
and had the courage to break its virgin sod, had hardly time to look
back in the furrows, when they were confronted with the need of
222
Editorials 223
being teachers and leaders of the popular side of the movement, as
well as of its research problems. The Association officers and workers,
in meeting the double task are in part ready to rise to the tasks which
are rapidly multiplying. But the field grows so rapidly day by day
and month by month, that the number of workers must be multiplied.
The avenues for giving expression to the results of the research
of the growing number of investigators banded together under the
eugenics section of the Association must be enlarged. And workers
must be trained to teach. The pedagogics of eugenics must be
wrought out in the departments of our universities and colleges,
and from there carried to our secondary schools and through college
extension departments to all the people. And it requires no special
vision to see that genetics, that is, heredity and the breeding of plants,
animals, and men, is to become one of the most vital of the truly
cultural subjects of our educational system. Our eugenic investi-
gators need to be broadly and intimately in touch with those who
are to develop the pedagogy of this subject, and the teachers must
constantly sit at the feet of those engaged in research. There is
a rapidly growing need for the enlargement of the publications and
other popular activities of the Association, such as exhibits at state
fairs and national and international expositions. Persons fully
trained in the known facts and in giving them through public address
aided by charts and stereoptican illustrations will be needed long
before the universities will have had the foresight, enterprise and
the time to produce them.
Without assuming the role of alarmist, it must be admitted that
this subject is sure to drift more or less for a lack of adequate leader-
ship. The breeders of plants and animals will serve largely as con-
servators of sensible, conservative and practical theories, but if
fads do not arise it would be because this subject is unlike any other
unripe subject. And the appeal cannot be made too strongly to the
governing boards and those in executive authority in our universities
to grapple with this subject at once that leaders may be produced
in adequate numbers. The old theory that the function of our
educational institutions was simply to give men general training has
drifted upon the rocks. Modern division of labor has created the
demand that men and women be trained for the specific kind of
leadership required to care for the problems now demanding solution.
If any university president doubts the oncoming of eugenics as a
field for vital university service, not merely to the university man,
but through university trained experts to the community, let him
224 American Breeders Magazine
scan the literature of the subject in 1905 and then in 1912. The
Association's publications need a radical change in policy, that they
may deal with the instructional and the popular phases of the subject
as well as become repositories of the research work of Association
investigators. While the first need of the results of research is to
make them available for other investigators, yet the ultimate and
broad purpose is that this information may be available as a basis
for practical plans of race development.
The Association was conceived in part to bring together the re-
search worker, the practical improver of species, and the educator.
The sudden growth of eugenics into an educational and even a popu-
lar subject has greatly enlarged and intensified the need of this
function of coordinating the results of all workers and of giving them
all the composite breadth of the view of the whole genetics move-
ment. In the critical work of popularizing eugenics the cooperation
of those persons trained in creating new values in plant and animal
heredity are needed. And on the other hand the rapidly developing
philosophy of eugenics will help in the more detailed work of the
producers of new varieties of plants and of improved families and
breeds of animals. But the great need is leaders, and the call is to
our great universities to train a scientific, safe, and sane leadership
which through eugenics, education, and religion, can develop a stronger
human race.
THE AMERICAN BREEDERS ASSOCIATION AND THE PRACTICAL
BREEDER
The American Breeders Association has a most vital relation to
the work of the thousands of national, state and local associations,
which are composed of persons engaged in the breeding of pedigreed
animals and plants. These live stock breeders associations, also
organizations of horticulturists, nurserymen, seedsmen and plant
breeders, for the most part stress the commercial rather than the
scientific aspects of their business. They lay stress mainly on the
work of multiplying plant and animal stocks for general use.
The American Breeders Association on the other hand has set
itself to the task of giving emphasis to research work in heredity.
We need more exact knowledge, as a tool to work with. The Ameri-
can Breeders Association also emphasizes the more definitely creative
phases of producing new values, the origination of new types with
added values, and the improvement of existing breeds of live stock
Editorials 225
and varieties of fruits, vegetables and flowers. A third general
function of the Association is to popularize the results of scientific
research through its publications and to take such knowledge forth
to the largest number of breeders possible. It will be seen, that
the scope and work of these state breeders associations and that of
the American Breeders Association are mutually inclusive, the inter-
ests of each include those of the other. The two are not in competi-
tion, but are supplementary to each other, and should be intimately
and widely in cooperation. The American Breeders Association,
through its annual meetings, its bound annual reports, and its quar-
terly journal, the American Breeders Magazine, endeavors to center
thought upon the broader features of genetics and practical breeding.
These publications follow with close attention the results of genetic
research in America and abroad. They emphasize the large eco-
nomic values which arise from the improvement of the heredity of
our great wealth producing crops and breeds of live stock. They
discuss in the light of modern science of heredity, the methods by-
which great leaders in breeding have secured their substantial results.
They place, besides all these discussions, the larger phases of eugenics
in their economic and social relation.
MANY GENERAL BREEDERS ASSSOCIATION
The numerous associations of practical breeders are coming to
deal more with the theory of breeding. The trotting register associ-
ations, the advanced registries of dairy breeds, the cow testing asso-
ciations, and the circuit breeders associations, are examples of a
tendency to follow out science in a statistical way in building up
families of exceptional breeding value within the respective breeds.
Field crop breeders associations, horticultural societies, florists soci-
eties, and associations of seedsmen and nurserymen are gradually
paying more attention to scientific discussions in^heir meetogs and
conversations. But in the end the great work of all these organiza-
tions is to take the products of the creative breeder and to multiply
and bring into wide use the new family of this breed or that, and the
new variety of plants. Thus, thousands of Shorthorn breeders have
multiplied the "Scotch" cattle brought them through the genius of
Cruikshank. N. H. Gentry built up and also widely multiplied his
Berkshires, but in the latter work he had thousands of expert swine
breeders as helpers. Burbank finds and creates new forms, but the
seedsmen and nurserymen are the multipliers and purveyors of his
226 American Breeders Magazine
new things. Experiment stations put out new varieties; and seed
growers, seed dealers and nurserymen become agencies to multiply
them so that eventually they come within reach of all growers.
Until recent years the science of breeding was in a very undeveloped
form, and it is even now very incomplete. But it is a lusty youth
and the time for a new order of things has arrived. The practical
breeder can now ill afford not to know the widening knowledge which
relates to his business. He needs the knowledge and skill of the
scientist. We are rapidly getting rid of our old breeding super-
stitions, of knowledge of things that are not so and breeding is being
placed on a firm basis. It will pay the practical breeder to study
the present status of the knowledge of heredity, and to keep abreast
of advancement along this line. It will pay him for economic reasons,
that he may the better use the best materials available in his own
breeding work. But beyond that it will pay him for the substantial
pleasure and personal development he will receive from this study,
as it is being cleared up through research and practical experience.
THE FIELD OF THE AMERICAN BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
The American Breeders Association first sought out and secured
in its membership the genetic scientists and the creative breeders
of this country and many from other countries. It now desires to
enlist under its banner the practical breeders also. The genetic
scientists and the creative breeders number only hundreds or at
most a few thousand. The practical breeders of live stock, including
the no less important ones of poultry and bees, are numbered by
the hundreds of thousands. The American Breeders Association
will come into its larger purpose, work and influence only when its
membership numbers by the tens of thousands these practical tech-
nicians who breed and multiply pedigreed animals and plants.
Its thought and influence will reach all countries of the earth for
that which is interesting, new and vital in connection with genetics.
It will make plain to the laymen the theory of heredity. It will
interest legislators in putting forward scientific supervision for crea-
tive breeding in cooperation with the practical breeders. It will
lead the public press in the discussion of the genetic improvement
of the human race. In fact if our enterprising breeders of pure
blooded stock and our plant breeders, seedsmen and nurserymen
knew how much the association is already doing they would all want
to share in the inspiration and results by being members of the
Association and thus become subscribers to its publications.
Editorials 227
The fact of having brought the students, scientists of heredity
and the practical breeders together in a large national organization
is an achievement worth all it has cost on the part of the members
and officers in money, patience and loyal effort. The placing of the
leadership of eugenics in this country in the hands of scientific com-
mittees, and the development of scientists in genetics is an outcome
of this general plan which is worth all the Association will cost in a
generation.
BREEDERS ARE MULTIPLIERS AND BENEFACTORS
The so-called breeder of live stock, even though he does not improve
upon the purebred stock he breeds, but only maintains its good
qualities, is a public benefactor. He multiplies this stock in its
purity and supplies it to stockmen and farmers who thus use pedi-
greed or upgraded stock where otherwise only mongrel and indifferent
live stock would be used. The breeder of purebred animals, needs
to know the fundamentals of heredity, or, as we now call it, genetics,
that he may secure, multiply and distribute that which is really
superior; not merely in looks but in net profits per herd. It does
not make one a breeder to pay unduly large prices in the excitement
of the sales ring, nor does a long list of entries of his stock in a national
herd book. A breeder to be worthy of the name needs to know how to
select a foundation of cattle which, when he multiplies them for his
farmer patrons, will give the farmer larger net profits per farm herd.
Mere show of a few highly fed animals. is too often accepted as the
badge of scientific success as a breeder. While shows have a large
place, winnings of phenomenal animals do not give such a basis
for genetic values as do data of individuals tabulated into family
averages. The time has come when such science as is coming for-
ward from the researchers and practical members of the American
Breeders Association will help the practical breeder to disregard
mere show and to build up herds of the best available practical
stock whether for meat, work, milk, wool, or for a combination of
two or more of these purposes.
The science of breeding is beginning to take rank with the sciences
of chemistry, physics and botany. Men have learned how to investi-
gate heredity and breeding. This magazine appeals to breeders to
become members of the American Breeders Association. It needs
them and they need it. Good can be both received and given.
NEWS AND NOTES
ANOTHER INSTANCE OF BAY FOALS FROM CHESTNUT PARENTS
Another instance of bay foals produced by the mating of chestnut
parents is to be found in the catalog of the Algeria Stud Farm, which
was located at Erie, Pennsylvania, until its dispersal occurred. The
catalog of 1889 of this great stud of thoroughbreds gives the produce
of the chestnut mare Monopoly as follows:
Produce
1881 — Missed to Voligeur.
* 1884— b f, by Versailles.
1885— b f, by Versailles.
1886— b c, Jake Miller, by Rayon d'Or.
1887— Missed to Rayon d'Or.
1888 — b f, Exclusion, by Rayon d'Or.
1889— ch c, by Rayon d'Or.
Rayon d'Or was a chestnut stallion, and it will be noted that two
of the three foals Monopoly produced by that horse were bay. This
would indicate that the theory advanced by a scientific writer in a
contemporary recently that the chestnut color in horses was a reces-
sive color, and that it would always be the result of mating of sire
and dam of that color, is entrely lacking in foundation — The Horse
World, May 21, 1912.
A PERTINENT EUGENICS QUESTION
The Darwinian theory is based on what Herbert Spencer has aptly
styled "the survival of the fittest." This theory is so well known
that it is not necessary to enlarge upon it. In investigating insanity
and degeneracy in Massachusetts, Dr. Southard found twelve towns
which he characterized as a "eugenic group' ' and which he found to
be decreasing in population, and twelve other towns which he brought
under the heading of "cacogenic group," and which he found were
increasing in population. Does this mean that the "cacogenic"
population represents an advantageous variation and the "eugenic"
population a disadvantageous variation? There is food for thought
here. Is the American Breeders Association endeavoring to bring
the entire population of the east into the dying-out group, or is it
228
News and Notes 229
aiming only at the white man? Or, more restricted still, is it seeking
only to set up in America a modern example of the fading-away
process which characterized Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome?
It is quite true that many members of the Association have earn-
estly advocated a more numerous progeny by eugenic individuals,
but are these members themselves raising families of six or eight
children or are they only advising others to do so? It is fairly well
established that, counting accidents and celibates, an average of
three children to each marriage barely maintains the population
stationary. Let those members of the Association who have families
of four or more children raise their hands.
If there are any members of the Association who are not raising
as many as four children, or who are not in a fair way to do so, do
they recognize any disadvantageous variations in their cases? If
so, what are these disadvantageous variations? It is more important
to know the reason why people who may be fairly classed as part of
a eugenic population, do not increase in numbers by propagation,
than it is to study the causes of insanity. We will never get any-
where by random shots in the air. We must ask those who fail to
reproduce their kind why it is that they fail. They should answer
fully and frankly. It is their duty to their fellow men to do so.
Doubtless many of those who fail to produce a reasonably numerous
offspring would not like to make public the real reasons for their
failure. Well, Dr. C. B. Davenport is collecting statistics on human
beings, and what he collects appears only as statistics. This is an
appeal to members of the Association to send real reasons to Dr.
Davenport to the end that he may tabulate them and tell us what
is the matter with the eugenic part of our population. — C. L. Red-
field.
ORGANIZATION OF A EUGENICS CLUB AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Last March, some students at Cornell University, who were inter-
ested in the eugenics movement, decided to form a club for the study
of eugenics. During the same week, but unknown to them, the
Cornell Philosophical Club had passed resolutions hoping to bring
before the" various organizations within the university likely to be
interested in eugenics/ ' their desire to establish "a society whose aim
it shall be to promote the study of the laws of inheritance and of
eugenic agencies, to disseminate information about such laws and
agencies, and to arouse interest in them wherever possible within
230 American Breeders Magazine
the university community." The result was that a general meeting
was called to effect an organization. On short notice a large audience
gathered on March 26th to hear Prof. H. J. Webber, of the Depart-
ment of Experimental Plant-Breeding, give a lecture on eugenics.
On that same evening the society was organized, and the following
officers were elected: President, E. G. Boring; vice-president, H. B.
Switzer; secretary, E. E. Barker; treasurer, L. R. Koten.
The membership of the society was drawn from various parts of
the university community, and in view of this diversity of interests
represented in the membership, as well as because of its large numbers,
the society was divided into several subordinate study-groups. Each
group is designed to consider eugenics in a different aspect, the bio-
logical, psychological, sociological and economical, and so on. Each
group meets independently, elects its own leader, and outlines its
own course of work. These meetings are held once a week. The
chairmen of the various groups, together with the president, vice-
president, secretary, and treasurer of the Society, form an executive
and program committee, whose function it is to direct the general
affairs of the society, and to arrange a program for each of the common
meetings of the society as a whole, which occur monthly.
At a second public meeting of the Society, held on August 16,
Prof. S. H. Gage, research professor in the college of medicine, made
an address, and President J. G. Schurman added remarks endorsing
the movement in behalf of the university. The audience filled one
of the largest lecture rooms on the campus. Interest in the move-
ment is quite general, and membership is open to all persons. A
considerable number of the members are women. The officers, how-
ever, are restricted to members of the university who are registered
students.
The eugenics society at Cornell is ready to ally itself with other
local organizations for the promotion of the eugenics movement. —
Arthur W. Gilbert.
PROGRESS REPORT FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
I have just received from someone a clipping telling of the organi-
zation of the Cornell Eugenics Club. The Eugenics Club of the
University of Wisconsin rejoices in the founding of this sister society.
We began with about 50 members and an attendence of 75. At
the session last Saturday night we had an attendence of 300 and our
membership has now risen to nearly 150. We meet every two weeks,
News and Notes 231
generally alternating reports on some line of research by the members,
with addresses by members of the faculty on eugenic subjects. The
literature committee has almost finished a classified list of eugenic
literature, together with a statement of the purposes of the move-
ment, which is to be published as a bulletin by the Extension Depart-
ment of the University for distribution through the state. The
research committee is engaged at present in an investigation of the
size of families of college professors, a rural township, a labor union,
a group of business men, the tuberculosis patients of the city, and
the applicants for relief from the Associated Charities, the indi-
viduals in each case also reporting upon the families of their fathers
and mothers, brothers and sisters in other occupations, and similar
data for the wife. We are trying to make it adequate from both a
biological and sociological viewpoint. We had a report some time
since on eugenic legislation in the United States, and another on
insanity in Wisconsin, the first especially surprising us in the extent
of legislation already enacted on the subject. It has just occurred
to me that a summary might be of interest to readers of the Breeders
Magazine. — 0. E. Baker, Madison, Wisconsin.
THE VALUE OF SEEDLING CHARACTERS IN PLANT BREEDING
A distinction is made, for the purposes of plant-breeding, between
desirable dominant and recessive characters. Once we have a plant
with a desirable recessive character or characters, it gives us pure
seed for the next season's planting. While if we have a plant with a
desirable dominant character, we do not know whether it is pure or
not (except in those cases where the homozygote can be distinguished
from the heterozygote), and have to sow the seed and wait a year to
find out. But if we have studied the seedling characters, and any
of them are found to be connate (that is, born together) with the
mature character in question, then we can pick the pure dominants
from the second or any subsequent generation from a cross with as
little loss of growing time as the recessives.
A selected strain of Stizolobiums was found, in the third generation
from the cross, to contain a recessive factor which caused the young
shoots and pods to be covered with a close black tomentum instead
of the usual whitish pubescence. These black plants were all late-
flowering. The pure dominant plants were selected without any loss
of growing time, and at a minimal expense, by sowing separately in a
cold frame, early in the season,, fifty seeds from each of the plants
232 American Breeders Magazine
with the dominant character. In two weeks it was obvious, from
the colors of the plumules, which of the lots of fifty were free from
the recessive black. In the same strain there were reasons for think-
ing that the albino condition (in which purple color is absent from
the whole -of the plant) was less vigorous than the dominant purple-
flowered. " (Erwin Baur also found the albino Antirrhinums to die
in greater numbers than the colored plants. Compare his admirable
genetic monograph in Zeitschrift fuer inductive Abstammungs und
Vererbungslehre, iii: 70. 1910.) The purple-flowered plants have
purple-stemmed seedlings. Thus by sowing fifty seeds each from
a number of plants of this strain, we can readily find the plant or
plants all of whbse seedlings have both purple epicotyls and whitish
pubescence on the plumules. These will breed true to both dominant
characters, and will have been obtained without loss of time. Such
a test can readily be carried out in the winter season, by sowing the
seeds in flats.
The larger the mature plants are, the more important is the study
of the seedlings, because of the expense of growing to maturity many
lines whichwill have to be rejected. This is especially the case in
breeding shrubs and trees. (For instance, one may notice seedling
characters in the mango and guava which are possibly connate with
definite qualities of the fruit.) I am convinced that in the future
it will pay the scientific plant-breeder in some cases to make a micro-
scopical and chemical study of the seedlings, to learn what seedling
characters are connate, in the strains with which he is working, with
desirable dominant characters of the mature herb, shrub, or tree. —
John Belling, Gainesville, Florida.
THE FIFTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON HYGIENE
AND DEMOGRAPHY
This Congress will be held in Washington, D. C, September 23 to
28, 1912. The preliminary announcement which, by-the-way, is
printed in three languages, English, French, and German, contains
part of the program which is elaborate and extensive. The work
program takes up its two divisions : Hygiene and Demography, these
divisions consisting of eight and one sections respectively, and each
section having its own program. This convention is of considerable
interest to eugenists by reason of the close relation of its subject
matter to eugenics. Dr. C. B. Davenport and Dr. Raymond Pearl
will read papers before the sub-section of sex hygiene.
News and Notes 233
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
Athletic Superiority op our New Stocks. Lieutenant-Colonel Chas. E.
Woodruff. Reprinted from the Medical Record, April 27, 1912. Pp. 10.
Modern Vitalism. Chas. E. Woodruff, M.D. Reprinted from the New York
Medical Journal, August 26, 1911. Pp. 41.
The Production of New and Improved Varieties of Timothy. Herbert
J. Webber in collaboration with Thomas P. Hunt, John W. Wilmore,
Charles F. Clark, Samuel Fraser. Bulletin 313, April, 1912. Pp. 338 to
392, illustrated with 10 plates.
The Canadian Seed Growers Association and its Work. Address deliv-
ered by Mr. L. H. Newman, Secretary of that Association, before the
Select Standing Committee on Agriculture and Colonization, February
6, 1911-12.
Co5perative Tests of Corn Varieties. Evvard R. Minns. Bulletin 314,
April, 1912, Cornell University, Agricultural Experiment Station. Pp.
394 to 412. Illustrated.
The Heredity of Size, Shape and Number of Tomato Fruits. B. H. A.
Groth, Ph.D. Bulletin 242, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station,
Brunswick, N. J. Pp. 401, pis. iii, 7 text charts.
The Vitality of Reproductive Cells. Lowery L. Lewis. Bulletin 96,
December, 1911, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College. Pp.
47, 7 text figures.
Another Sex-Limited Character. Ed. N. Wentworth in Science. June
28, 1912. Pp. 986.
The Women of Tomorrow. William Hard. The Baker and Taylor Com-
pany, New York, 1911. Review will appear in a later number of the Maga-
zine. Pp. 211, illustrated.
NEW BOOKS
Einfuhrung in die Experimentelle Vererbungslehre. Prof. Dr. Erwin
Baur. Gebr. Borntraeger, publishers, Berlin, Germany. Pp. 293, 7 x 11
inches, 80 text figures, 9 colored plates.
The volume of Mendelian literature is continuing to grow at an
amazing rate. One of the more notable recent contributions to this
literature is by Prof. Dr. Baur, professor at the University of Berlin,
Germany, a book in German under the title of Introduction into the
Study of Experimental Heredity. This book grew out of a course of
lectures delivered at the University of Berlin. Although the lecture
form has been retained the subject matter has not suffered in arrange-
ment.
The results of a most extensive series of original experiments by
the author in breeding and hybridizing enter into these lectures.
Most of these experiments have been with Antirrhinum or Snap-
dragon and have not previously been published.
234 American Breeders Magazine
From, these cross breeding experiments is also drawn a large part
of the material for the numerous drawings and colored plates. The
illustrative material is drawn from the plant and animal world accord-
ing to the author's needs but in the main examples from plant breed-
ing preponderate.
The author does not allow himself to chase theories, nor does
he place over-much value on untested theories of others. Baur
does not attempt to explain disputed cytological processes and
does not admit adherence to any school or theory of the mechan-
ism of heredity. His work is exactly what the title says it is; an
introduction into those phases of heredity which are capable of
experimental demonstration. Doubtful processes and hazy theories
are in every case simply and sensibly referred to the future for more
complete research and study. Thus the transmission of modifica-
tions is disposed of as follows : " Summa Summarum up to the present
not a single case is known, which might be interpreted as one of
inheritance of modifications." Hence also, the mutations observed
by De Vries in Oenothera are regarded with decided suspicion
"The unstability of this species is something singular.'' "The cause
of this, undoubtedly remarkable mutability of 0. Lamarkiana, we
do not know." He punctures the theory of the genesis of new varie-
ties and even of species by direct mutation by citing the "circum-
stance, that all cases of mutations generally accepted as such, if not
in fact all mutations, are such by reason of loss of a single factor, and
the new variety on being crossed with the original variety, behaves
so that we can without hesitancy assign the difference to the ab-
sence of some one factor."
The trend has for some time been away from strict mathematical
interpretation of factoral processes and this is evidently supported
by Baur. Those who have been figuring over interminable formulas
of correlation tables may question themselves if their mathematical
endeavors have yielded results commensurate with the expenditure
of effort. Baur holds that so called correlation of two or more charac-
ters is frequently merely the manifestation of the same unit character
in two or more different directions. "Correlation is a concept which
under the light of modern research is in process of dissolution."
The economic importance and practical bearing of genetics on the
breeding of plants and animals is summed up more tersely perhaps
than in any recent similar literature. "Already, practical breeding
has become a distinct science, which bears about the same relation
to the science of heredity as technology bears to chemistry." It is
News and Notes 235
only a question of time that all useful and important plants and
Animals will be analyzed as to their unit characters but this work
will necessarily have to be done by technicians in well equipped and
well manned state institutions. Actual breeding will probably always
be the work of the plant and animal breeders who will utilize these
facts and will make it their business to originate and place on the
market new forms and new values.
"A matter of far reaching importance, is the investigation of the
intimate processes of mutation, — the solution of the question, whether
we can give rise to new material, whether under controlled conditions
we can initiate new unit characters, which will give us new material
for selection in creative breeding. What we know about these things
to day is not worth mentioning." The final chapter brings this
observation: "The theory of natural selection stands and falls with
this: whether or not it will be shown that mutations really occur with
sufficient frequency to make possible an effective process of selection."
The conservatism and caution with which this book is written
lend it solidity and strength. It is a well rounded publication,
calculated to give the student a splendid grounding in the principles
of Mendelism. Graduate students, researchers, and advanced stu-
dents of heredity and breeding who wish to obtain a thorough work-
ing knowledge of Mendelism will find this book exceedingly useful.
Heredity in Relation to Eugenics. Dr. C. B. Davenport, Secretary of
the Eugenics Section of the American Breeders Association. Henry Holt
and Company, New York City. Pp. 320.
This book is a general analysis or broad review of a subject which
should be represented on the shelves of every public library, and
should be read by every humanitarian, publicist, physician, teacher,
parent, and student. This book bears evidence to the fact that
eugenics is rapidly accumulating a body of usable knowledge and
that its initial period of research may be followed by a permanent
period of research, education and application. Eugenics or the
breeding of men is clearly placed beside and parallel to eusthenics
or the development of man through home, school, and church, as
the second great agency for upbuilding the civilization of nations
and races.
It is only six years since the secretary of the American Breeders
Association organized a committee on eugenics; four years later it
was enlarged into a eugenics section, coordinate with its plant section
and animal section. At that time no constructive eugenics work
236 American Breeders Magazine
had been done in this country, and the purpose to place the leader-
ship of this subject in the hands of careful scientists has been more
than realized. The charlatan and the half-baked scientist is no
■
more to control the public teaching of eugenics than that of engi-
neering, agriculture, or home economics.
Dr. Davenport clearly forecasts the introduction of genetics as
a study into our educational system. This is also foreshadowed by
the organization of genetic associations at a number of our univer-
sities and colleges, and the promise of organization of many more
such organizations in connection with the American Breeders Asso-
ciation. In our agricultural colleges the newer genetic principles
are being taught in reference to plant breeding and animal breeding;
and in a few institutions lecture courses are given in eugenics. Thus
these institutions of higher learning are coming into cooperation with
this central association in this genetics movement which is gaining
a mighty momentum. May we not hope that at no distant date
the elements of eugenic fact may become a part of the curriculum
of our secondary schools, thus to reach those who compose the body
of the millions who work on the land, in the shop, and in the home?
The subject matter treated by Dr. Davenport is so closely related
to much that is common knowledge and is so well presented, often
with the aid of graphic illustrations, that the laymen will find it
both interesting and instructive, and easy to grasp. The preliminary
chapters define and state the aim and importance of eugenics, and
give some of the more recently discovered facts, and the newer
methods in the study of human heredity.
Nearly 200 hundred pages are given to the subjects of the inheri-
tance of family traits and to the eugenic significance of the migra-
tion of defective and valuable traits into new territory. Of special
interest- are the chapters on the influence on the race of certain indi-
viduals which have been especially potent in projecting faults or
excellencies into a large number of their progeny, as in case of the
strong Kentucky families, and in the debased Jukes family.
Dr. Davenport's outlines for state eugenic surveys point out one
of the directions in which practical work is being undertaken. In
New Jersey and other states these surveys are already under way,
with the codperation of institutions which deal with the defective
and criminal classes. The Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring
Harbor, New York, in connection with the American Breeders Asso-
ciation, has reached a point of great importance. That genealogical
and other data there collected is already of great value is illustrated
by the use Dr. Davenport has made of such information in this
News and Notes 237
volume. The superintendent, Mr. H. H. Laughlin, who is ably
accumulating in a fire-proof vault the available records of lineage
and genetic genealogies, invites the cooperation of all interested in
either the science or the practice of eugenics. This volume illus-
trates again the fact that the genetic movement is making substantial
progress all along the line. — W. M. Hays.
REFERENCES IN CURRENT LITERATURE
Marriage of the Deaf. Fred DeLand. Volta Review, no. 3, June, 1912.
Page 186.
Heredity and Intermarriage, Factors in Deafmtttjsm. Linnaeus Rob-
erts. Volta Review, no. 3, June, 1912. Page 184.
Unfit for Parenthood. John Harris. Westminster Review, May, 1912.
Pages 579-582.
The Canadian Seed Growers Association and Its Work. Edited by the
Secretary, Mr. L. H. Newman. Ottawa, Canada. Pp. 64, 13 text figures.
This large and useful public service organization, the Canadian
Seed Growers Association, has as its object the advancement of the
interests of seed growers and farmers in Canada, by exerting such
influence and devising such means as will tend to improve the bulk
of the forty million of bushels of farm seed which are used annually
in Canada, to the end that the per-acre production of those crops
may be permanently increased. This pamphlet gives a statement of
the organization of the Canadian Seed Growers Association, the
general system of seed growing officially adopted by the Association,
registration of seed, handling of commercial seed. It further touches
on choice varieties, production of "Elite Stocks" of seed, maintaining
purity, grading of seed, seed inspection, etc.
We recognize the names of many American Breeders Association
members among the administrative officers as well as in the council
and directors. The following are the officers for this year : President,
James W. Robertson, C. M. G.; vice-presidents, Prof. C. A. Zavitz,
G. A. Gigault, John Mooney, and secretary-treasurer, L. H. Newman
ERRATA
The Editors wish to call attention to the following errors in the
article, "Methods of Corn Breeding," by Professor Herbert K. Hayes,
in No. 2 of Volume III: On page 99 in place of "these types have
been called types," read "these types have been called biotypes,"
and on page 104 in line 5 read "biotypes" instead of "genotypes."
ASSOCIATION MATTERS
THE EUGENICS RECORD OFFICE
The purpose, the work and the importance of the Eugenics Record
Office is coming more and more to public notice. As a research
institution it is singular of its kind. The facts brought to light and
turned into usable knowledge by its research and field workers have
furnished the themes and the inspiration of countless lectures, ad-
dresses and articles on eugenics the country over.
The social engineer of the perhaps not so distant future, will
increasingly draw from this source facts from which to argue, and
upon which to base plans for social uplift, regeneration and organi-
zation.
The legislator in state and national councils will also come here to
get certain basic facts and statistics so essential to understanding
the nature of a population, the interrelations of whose component
parts are daily becoming more intricate and complex, and where
every problem, whether it be one of industry, of education, of health,
of immigration, of sociology, ultimately traces back to one of heredity.
MEMBERS AND ENDOWMENT
The American Breeders Association has 1690 annual and 197 life
members, and thousands of new members are needed. Every member
is urged to invite three friends to join and to request the secretary to
send them an invitation and a copy of the Magazine. The Associa-
tion has earned a place by the side of other great movements. Has
it not earned an endowment? How shall that be secured? The
best endowment for this publication would be a large membership:
best, because the membership is a living endowment.
This Association is the vanguard of research and creative work in
genetics. It has in hand much work which an endowment of money
would enable it to carry out. It needs money to bring into the
field of public effort a number of things which public institutions
are not ready to undertake. It needs means to be devoted to the
coordination of the forces working along genetic lines.
The proposition of bringing together the plant and animal breeders
was once met with much doubt and even with opposition, but it has
proven of very great value. Making possible the placing of eugenics
in America in the hands of real scientists was a service of inestimable
238
Association Matters
HEADQtUBTEBS OT Field Wobeebs or the Eugenics Record Office, Cold SpaiNd Harbob
L. I„ New Yobi.
Here under the direction of Dr. C. B. Davenport a force of twelve field workers Is encaged, li
•sole research. The workers spend their time lnstudying the family distribution of specific me nta
d physical traits.
Eugenics Recobd Oftice: :
1 at the Eugenics Record Office Is
a system devised by Dr. Daven
240 American Breeders Magazine
value. The association of those concerned with eugenics with those
working in plant and animal improvement, is proving not only its
wisdom, but is of very large scientific value. Who will suggest the
sum which should be raised for an endowment? And who will
suggest a plan of securing it? And while formulating plans for a
money endowment for research in genetics let one and all ask our
friends, by becoming members, to become a living membership
endowment to the Magazine, the annual reports and other publica-
tions. Let us set the sum for an endowment at $500,000 or more
and work till we get it.
THE MAGAZINE TO OPEN ITS PAGES TO ADVERTISEMENTS
•
Preparations are being made to change the status of the American
Breeders Magazine as to second class privileges, in order to enable
it to accept advertising matter for publication.
This change of policy will not cause any material change in the
Magazine except perhaps in appearance. There will be the same
number of pages of reading matter as advertising will be placed on
additional pages. Complete details will be published in the next
number of the Magazine when, it is thought, the necessary arrange-
ments with the Post Office Department and the publishers will
have been made.
I am glad to contribute to such a good work as you are doing. May you
live long and prosper. — C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, Iowa.
I conceive that there can scarcely be anything of more importance than
the fostering of a wholesome public sentiment concerning the facts of eugenics.
— W. A. Barnes, Marston, Missouri.
I consider the publications of this Association the most instructive and
useful literature published today and I am convinced that no young man
interested in any phase of genetics can afford not to read this literature. —
Chas. McIntire, C handler sville, Ohio.
I regard the American Breeders Association as the most important and
influential agricultural association in America and probably second only to
the American Association for Advancement of Science in promoting general
progress and welfare of the nation — T. V. Munson, Denison t Texas.
I am tired of your duns for annual membership in the American Breeders
Association, so please drop them and make me a life member. Check enclosed.
— S. M. Tracy, Biloxi, Mississippi.
Public Libraries Private Libraries
Libraries of Educational Institutions
As well as new members of the Association should secure copies of the
Annual Reports of the Proceedings of the American Breeders Association
while the supply lasts. No library, whether general or special is complete
without the publications of the American Breeders Association.
These publications are valuable and are becoming more so from year to
year. We have on hand a limited number of
Vol. IV Proceedings A. B. A. Cloth bound, illustrated, 373 pages, $2.00
Vol. VI Proceedings A. B. A. Cloth bound, illustrated, 466 pages, $2.00
Supply of copies of Vols. I, n, III and V is exhausted.
Persons taking life membership receive these publications free.
Address: SECRETARY AMERICAN BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
Washington, D. C#
NINTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN
BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
Columbia, South Carolina, Jan. 24, 25, 26, 1913
AS GUEST OP THE FIFTH NATIONAL CORN EXPOSITION
Columbia is all that can be desired as to climate, location and hospi-
tality. Reduced rates have been promised on all railroads. Not only Co-
lumbia but the State of South Carolina is interested in making these great
educational meetings a success. Section and general meetings of the Asso-
ciation will be held in the buildings of the University of South Carolina.
The Eugenics Section will hold the largest, most important and best
attended meeting in years.
Plant breeders and improvers will have an unusual representation and
will have numerous exhibits at the Corn Exposition.
The Animal Section meetings will be well represented also.
Let the secretary know of your plans for attending* Send in early to
the respective section secretary titles of papers and requests for places
on the program.
BULLETINS OF THE EUGENICS RECORD OFFICE
No. 1. Heredity of Feeble-mindedness (Goddard) $0.10
No. 2. Study of Human Heredity (Davenport and Others) 10
No. 3. Study of Insanity (Cannon and Rosanoff) .10
No. 4. Inheritance in Epilepsy (Davenport and Weeks) 15
No. 5. Insanity in light of the Mendelian Theory (Rosanoff and Orr). .15
No. 6. The Trait Book (Davenport) 10
These publications are sold at prices named only by the Eugenics Recor4
Office, H. H. Laughlin, Supt., Cold Spring Harbor, L. I., New York. Persons
taking A. B. A. life membership are entitled to these publications at one-half
the price given.
The American Breeders Association
OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION
President
HON. JAMES WILSON, Washington, D. C
Vice President
DR* H. J. WATERS, Manhattan, Kansas
Secretory And Treasurer.
HON- WILLET M. HAYS, Washington, D. C
Chairman Want Section
DR* GEORGE H. SHULL, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.
Vice Chairman PI Ant Section
PROF. W. T. M ACOUN, Ottawa, Canada
SecreUry PUnt Section
DR. H. J. WEBBER, Ithaca, N. Y.
Chairman Animal Section
DR. RAYMOND PEARL, Orono, Maine
Vict Chairman Animal Section
PRO^F. E. N. WENTWORTH, Ames, Iowa
Secretary Animal Section
PROF. H. W. MUMFORD, Urbana, Ml.
Chairman Eugenics Section
DR, E. E. SOUTHARD, Boston, Mass.
Vice Chairman Eugenics Section
DR. H. H. GODDARD, Vineland, N. J.
SecreUry Eugenics Section
DR. C B. DAVENPORT, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.
EDITORS
WILLET M. HAYS, Secretary of the
H. J. WEBBER, Secretary of the Plant Section
H. W. MUMFORD, Secretary of the Animal Section
C B. DAVENPORT, Secretary of the Eugenics Section
GEO* W. KNORR, Editorial Secretary
Membership: Annual, $2.00; Life, $20.00; Delegate, $25.00
No entrance fee
Address AMERICAN BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
Washington, D. C.
An Endowment Fund of $500,000 is needed
THE WAVERLY PRESS
BALTIMORE. U. 8. A.
tfk
2=
Vol. m, No. 4. Whole Number 12.
CONTENTS
A Study in Eugenic Genealogy.
A. Gartley, Honolulu, Hawaii , 241
First Report of Committee on Immigration.
Prescott F. Hall, Chairman, Boston, Massachusetts .'. 249
The Eugenical Aspect of Venereal Disease.
Dr . H. E . Jordan, University, Virginia - 256
The Fertility of Hybrids in a Mammalian Species Cross.
John Detlefson, Urbana, Illinois * 261
First Annual Conference of the Eugenics Field Workers.
Superintendent H. H. Laughlin, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York 265
Some Biological Principles in Animal Breeding.
Prof. W.E. Castle, Cambridge, Massachusetts..... '270
Horses and Horse Breeding.
H. K. Bush-Brown, Washington, D. C 282
Comparison of Yields between Hybrids and Selections in Oats
Dr. H. H. Love, Ithaca, New York 289
The Size of the Seed Planted and the Fertility of the Plant Produced.
J. Arthur Harris, Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y 293
Ten Yean of Corn Breeding.
Eugene Funk, Shirley, Illinois : 295
Pedagogics of Genetics. 302
EDITORIALS:
Genetics— A Field for the Scientific Philanthropist 303
Eugenics at the Hygiene and Demography Congress 306
Breeding.) Genetics, Eugenics 308
News and Notes:
Genetics at the University of Illinois 310
The Gideon Memorial Tablet 310
Selection in Pure Lines 311
Korean Cattle .-*.*.. ^ .-.. . . 312
Publications Received 313
New Books 313
Reference in Current Literature 3 16
Association Matters:
A" Appeal v 319
Election of Life Member During the Past Quarter 319
Reduced Rates to the Meeting of the American Breeders Association 319
4
<
THE AMERICAN BREEDERS MAGAZINE is published quarterly by the
American Breeders Association for the use of its members and for others who are
students of Eugenics and Genetics and for breeders of plants and animals.
Price of single copies 35 cents*
The American Breeders Association
Is a cooperative association designed to develop the science of heredity and
the art of breeding, and to bring that knowledge to persons interested in these
subjects.
The membership is composed of progressive breeders of live stock, horticul-
turists, seedsmen, scientists, teachers, publicists, physicians, and others interested
in the various phases of heredity of plants, animals and men. All freely cooper-
ate through the Association and contribute the time required to make investigations,
to prepare papers, to attend the annual meetings and to help build up the literature
of the science and practice of breeding.
All persons in any way interested are cordially invited to become members*
Holders of memberships are entitled to the American Breeders Magazine, to the
annual report of the Proceedings of the Association, and to full participation in the
activities of the Association.
An endowment fund of $500,000 is being solicited. Who can help raise it?
Membership: Annual, $2*00; Life, $20.00; Delegate, $25.00.
No entrance fee*
Address all communications to:
AMERICAN BREEDERS ASSOCIATION
Washington, D. C.
i
K
(Copyright, 1912, by the American Breeders Anodttioa.)
■*.
-
THE AMEEICAN
JBBEEDEBS MAGAZINE
" When in any nation the standard of intellect and the number of intellectual men have increased,
we may expect from the law of the deviation from an average that prodigies of genius will appeal
somewhat more frequently than before." — Charles Darwin.
Vol. Ill Fourth Quarter, 1912 No. 4
A STUDY IN EUGENIC GENEALOGY
A. Gartlby*
Honolulu, Hawaii
Eugenics is probably the most important and urgently necessary
scientific work being pursued today as measured by its value both
to the individual and to the state. This science was named by Sir
Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin. Galton's lucid writings
on the subject are fundamental and may almost be accepted as the
eugenic creed. His definitions, "Eugenics is the study of the agen-
cies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qual-
ities of future generations either physically or mentally, ,, and the
more comprehensive one, "Eugenics is the science which deals with
all influences that improve the inborn qualities of a race; also those
that develop them to the utmost advantage," broadly set forth the
scope of the work of the men and women who have undertaken to
organize the science in its scientific and practical phases.
The science is new, and the subject has been misunderstood and
misapprehended by some persons. The thought of a biological con-
sideration of man — as a human animal — has been so abhorrent to
the average mind that sociologists and biologists have lacked the
courage or inclination to urge their theories or publish their truths,
knowing that prejudices precluded rational and sensible considera-
tion. Discussions of the relative importance of environment or
heredity usually result whenever the subject is mentioned. But
nurture and nature are very closely related and the eugenist proposes
to unite the forces of the sociologists and biologists and increase the
physical and mental soundness of man, and to raise to higher level
the culture and the intelligence of the great citizen body. The his-
* Paper read before the Social Science Club of Honolulu, Hawaii, May, 1912. Mr. Gartley is Life
Member A. B. A.
241
242 American Breeders Magazine
torian, the political economist, the sociologist and the philosopher
have so far deduced no natural law nor suggested any practical
rules of ethics by which this object might be obtained. The eugenist
will endeavor to deduce such a law and prescribe methods of its appli-
cation. Certainly this endeavor cannot be considered unworthy.
The law of Mendel has given us the key and it is hoped that great
advance will be made through the study of precise data as to the
unit characters in the germ plasm of man and the method of their
transmission from generation to generation.
For centuries philosophers and thinkers, from Plato down, have
recognized the inheritance of qualities from the individual but have
usually only considered negative or recessive qualities and have
warned against the inheritance of degeneration and defects. Galton
in his book, Hereditary Genius, published in 1869, pointed out that
mental qualities are inherited as are physical qualities and that it
is both possible and desirable to improve the human race. Years
of study and patient investigation have advanced the subject from
an academic to a working basis. The publication of Galton's address
"Eugenics, Its Definition, Scope and Aims" met with an enthu-
siastic response, and the work as outlined is now being actively
advanced in Great Britain under the direction of Prof. Karl PearsoD
at the Eugenics Laboratory of the University College, London, which
was established in 1905 by Sir Francis Galton, and was made his
residuary legatee at his death in 1911. In the United States a begin-
ning in the organization of eugenics study and propaganda have also
been made and the Eugenics Record Office was established at Cold
Spring Harbor, Long Island, N. Y., October, 1910, in connection
with the Eugenics Section of the American Breeders Association
and the collection and study of records and data is now well under
way.
Pearson has stated three fundamental biological ideas. First,
"That the relative weight of nature and nurture must not a priori
be assumed but must be scientifically measured; and thus far our
experience is that nature dominates nurture and that inheritance
is more vital than environment." Second, "That there exists no
demonstrable inheritance of acquired characters. Environment modi-
fies the characters of the existing generation, but does not (often)
modify the germ plasms from which the next generation springs.
At most, environment can permit a selection as to which germ plasms,
among the many provided, shall be potential and which shall remain
latent." Third, "That all human qualities are inherited in a marked
i>
/
*
Gartley: A Study in Eugenic Genealogy 243
and probably equal degree." If these ideas are substantially true
the theoretical side is much simplified and "selection of parentage
is the sole effective process known to science by which a race can
continuously progress.' '
Studies in heredity indicate that every man is an aggregation of
large numbers of certain physical and mental characters, and that
these characters are not reducible to simpler forms. They are
therefore called unit characters; and they are transmitted through
the germ plasm as separate units. Furthermore, the inheritance of
these unit characters seems to follow Mendel's law and the presence
or absence of desirable or undesirable characteristics marks the
differences in the character of the men and women about us. It
has been convincingly demonstrated that a unit character, absent
in both parents, will also be absent in all their offspring, or, in Men-
delian terms, when a recessive mates with a recessive, only recessives
result. This has been most strikingly shown in the results of the
CouStnS
| I I I I | 1/ \| I 1 I I I I I I I I I I
'ddddnnmnnnnn
I i ' • > ' i v \r
^>yj|| N M N N N H_^
H N N N N D
D ■ • II N N N IV
N N N N
Fiq. 1. — Transmission op Deaf-Mutism
In this as well as the following heredity charts the squares represent male members of families,
the disks female members. Squares or disks shaded black represent Individuals possessing the char-
acter under consideration, white symbols, normal ones. Where sex Is unknown the letter N stands
for normal, D, deaf-mute. " Note the fraternity of deaf-mutes derived from the central mating of
cousins. Most of those who outmarried, even though their consorts were deaf, had hearing children."
(After Davenport, Heredity in Relation to Eugenics, p. 127.)
selective mating of the feeble-minded, and never has a normal child
been known to result from the union of two feeble-minded parents.
As another example, vigor and virtue seem to be dominant, and
weakness and vice to be recessive. When a dominant character
mates with a recessive the children will all have the dominant char-
acter but possibly in a dilute condition; the recessive character,
however, remains latent, and will reappear one-fourth as often as
the dominant.
In order to show more clearly the principles outlined above, three
heredity charts are shown and these, selected out of several thousands
already plotted, are quite convincing and should furnish material
for thought and study.
244
American Breeders Magazine
The first chart shows the inheritance of deaf-mutism to be com-
plete by the marriage of cousins, in families or strains possessing
this deLt, when the defect is produced no doubt from the same
cause. It will be noted that the out-mating of this defective strain
with deaf-mutes or other strains produces normal children. This
chart emphasizes the necessity of care in consanguineous matings
when defects are known to exist in the strain. There is also danger
in such matings, of the reappearance of latent defects, after having
been absent from one or more generations. This chart shows the
inheritance of only one physical defect, but many other physical
and mental defects show a similar method of inheritance and follow
the Mendelian law.
What are perhaps the most remarkable and most convincing results
have been obtained from the study and the charting of heredity
D-H»
D
^<|)<§)Ii}-HS
<3>^difcil6be6EH-6ii6b
1 1 1 [^ |^ [£] ,2fr [£] |^ [ji|| i |£| (£)
Fig. 2— Heredity Chabt Showing Transmission of Feeble-Mindednes* Through Threi
Generations.
(Courtesy of Dr. H. H. Goddard, Vineland, N. J.)
of feeble-mindedness and are especially shown by the work of Dr.
Henry H. Goddard of Vineland, N. J., in charge of the Institution
for Feeble-Minded. One chart, showing the transmission of feeble-
mindedness, is worthy of special study. Concerning the history of
the case Dr. Goddard says: b
This chart is particularly interesting as showing the mental defect running
through four generations, and through the mother's family in three of these,
although there is defect on the father's side also in the third generation.
b American Breeders Magazine, vol. 1, no. 3, p. 176.
Gartlby: A Study in Eugenic Genealogy
245
The chart, figure 3, brings out the unfailing transmissible of feeble-
mindedness with peculiar force. The central figure is a woman who
had three husbands, and the social experiment, charted above, was
as follows:
This woman was a handsome girl, apparently having inherited some refine-
ment from her mother, although her father was a feeble-minded alcoholic
brute. Somewhere about the age of seventeen or eighteen she went out to
do housework in a family in one of the towns of this state (New Jersey). She
soon became the mother of an illegitimate child. It was born in an almhouse
to which she fled after she had been discharged from the house where she had
been at work. After this, charitably disposed people tried to do what they
could for her, giving her a home for herself and her child in return for the work
which she could do. However, she soon appeared in the same condition.
D
O
O Or-iOB
I Eh-®
wire
oieo
** HUSftANP
I I I
4 4 4
iNr. mw. i*r.
n
Olidti6*>"6>ti #!• 66
k
» s
MOS.MOS
Fia. 3— Heredity Chart Showing Transmission of Feeblb-Mindedness Through Four
Generations
(Courtesy of Dr. H. H. Goddard, Vineland, N. J.)
An effort was then made to discover the father of this second child, and when
he was found to be a drunken, feeble-minded epileptic living in the neighbor-
hood, in order to save the legitimacy of the child, her friends saw to it that
a marriage ceremony took place. Later another feeble-minded child was
born to them. Then the whole family secured a home with an unmarried
farmer in the neighborhood. They lived there together until another child
was forthcoming which the husband refused to own. When finally the farmer
acknowledged this child to be his, the same good friends interfered, went into
the courts and procured a divorce from the husband, and had the woman mar-
ried to the father of the expected fourth child. This proved to be feeble-
minded, and they have had four other feeble-minded children, making eight
246
American Breeders Magazine
in all, born of this woman. There have also been one child still-born and
one miscarriage.
As will be seen from the chart, this woman had four feeble-minded brothers
and sisters. These are all married and have children. The older of the two
sisters had a child by her own father, when she was thirteen years old. The
child died at about six years of age. This woman has since married. The two
brothers have each at least one child whose mental condition is known.
The other sister married a feeble-minded man and had three children. Two
of these are feeble-minded and the other died in infancy. There were six
other brothers and sisters that died in infancy.
No record can show more black symbols, or in other words,
transmission of defectiveness, than that of the last two generations,
where all known members of the strain are feeble-minded.
fcrmfy
UiOOi
J)aru>/n
fcrmiiy
Get/To*
filtni/y
%0 O M [ O »rO
Fia. 4 — Genetic Chart of Three Families Possessing Marked Ability
Black symbol signifies that the person which It represents In the kinship, possessed scientific
ability. The letter R on side of symbol denotes that In addition the person Is a Fellow of the Royal
Society. Numbers within symbols Indicate other children In chlldshlp not charted.
It will be noted that the two feeble-minded brothers of the second
generation (shown on the right of the chart) had one normal brother
whose normal son, mated to a normal woman, produced two normal
children.
But there is a bright side as well and Galton's efforts were largely
positive; that is he endeavored to demonstrate the inheritance of
mental capacity and the possibility of improving the human race.
An abbreviated record of his own family including the Wedgwood
Gartley: A Study in Eugenic Genealogy 247
and Darwin families is pregnant with data in support of the conclu-
sion that these strains cany the potential germ plasm of hereditary
genius, great mental capacity, powerful physique, and longevity.
There can be no question that "Inhibitions responsible for honesty
and dishonesty, morality and licentiousness, temperance and drunk-
enness, as well as strength and defectiveness of mind, talents for
music, for poetry, for oratory, for mechanical invention and the
absence of these talents" are wholly or in part "subject to the Men-
delian laws of segregation, dominance, and recombination." What
we want is a nation of individuals possessing physical and mental
capacity, soundness, aggressiveness, concentration, and sympathy
and a germ plasm transmitting these qualities. Unfortunately these
qualities are only occasionally combined in one individual, but usually
248 American Breeders Magazine
appear separately. The production of a race of men and women, a
great majority of whom shall possess these qualities, will be the
next step in human achievement.
The value of the individual possessing a potentially strong plasm
is excellently illustrated by Davenport" who cites one of our best
known genetic records, namely, that of Elizabeth Tuttle.
Tihotbt D Wight, S.T.D.. L.L.D.
From two English parents, sire at least remotely descended from royalty,
was born in Massachusetts, Elizabeth Tuttle. She developed into a woman
of great beauty, of tall and commanding appearance, striking carriage, of
strong will, extreme intellectual vigor, of mental grasp akin to rapacity,
attracting by not a few magnetic traits, but repelling when she evinced an
extraordinary deficiency of moral sense.
• Heredity in Relation to Eugenia, Davenport, p. 22S.
Report of the Immigration Committee 249
On November 19, 1667, she married Richard Edwards of Hartford, Connec-
ticut, a lawyer of high repute and great erudition. Like his wife he was very
tall and as they both walked the Hartford streets their appearance invited
the eyes and the admiration of all. In 1691 Mr. Edwards was divorced from
his wife on the grounds of her adultery and other immoralities. The evil
trait was in the blood, for one of her sisters murdered her own son and a brother
murdered his own sister. After his divorce Mr. Edwards re-married and had
five sons and a daughter by Mary Talcott, a mediocre woman, average in talent
and character and ordinary in appearance. None of Mary Talcott' s progeny
arose above mediocrity and their descendents gained no abiding reputation.
Of Elizabeth Tuttle and Richard Edwards, the only son was Timothy Ed-
wards who graduated from Harvard College in 1691, gaining simultaneously
the two degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, a very exceptional
feat. He was pastor of the church in East Windsor, Connecticut, for fifty-
nine years. Of eleven children the only son was Jonathan Edwards, one of
the world's great intellects, preeminent as a divine and theologian, President
of Princeton College. Of the descendants of Jonathan Edwards much has
been written; a brief catalogue must suffice: Jonathan Edwards Junior, Pres-
ident of Union College; Timothy Dwight, President of Yale; Sereno Edwards
Dwight; President of Hamilton College; Theodore Dwight Woolsey, for twenty-
five years President of Yale College; Sarah, wife of Tapping Reeve, founder
of Litchfield law school, herself no mean lawyer; Daniel Tyler, a general of
the Civil War, and founder of the iron industries of North Alabama; Timothy
Dwight the second, President of Yale University from 1886 to 1898; Theodore
William Dwight, founder and for thirty-three years warden of Columbia Law
School; Henrietta Frances, wife of Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton-gin,
who, burning the midnight oil by the side of her ingenious husband, helped
him to his enduring fame; Merrill Edwards Gates, President of Amherst Col-
lege; Catherine Maria Sedgwick, of graceful pen; Charles Sedgwick Minot,
authority on biology and embryology in the Harvard Medical school; and
Winston Churchill, the author of Coniston. These constitute a glorious galaxy
of America's great educators, students, and moral leaders of the republic.
(To Be Continued)
FIRST REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON IMMI-
GRATION OF THE EUGENICS SECTION
Alexander E. Cance; James A. Field; Robert De C. Ward;
Prescott F. Hall, Secretary
At a meeting of the Eugenics Section of the American Breeders
Association, held at Washington, December 30, 1911, the following
resolution was adopted:
Resolved: That the Eugenics Section organize a permanent committee
on immigration, with authority to cooperate with similar committees of other
250 American Breeders Magazine
organizations in securing laws which will be more effective in securing immi-
grants which bring good health and normal and superior heredity to this
country.
In accordance with this vote a committee on immigration was
organized as follows, the chairmanship of it being left in abeyance
for the present:
Prof. Franz Boas, Columbia University, New York City; Dr. Alex-
ander E. Cance, Amherst, Mass.; Prof. James A. Field, University
of Chicago; Prescott F. Hall, Boston, Mass., Secretary; Prof. Robert
DeC. Ward, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
The first meeting of the committee was held March 26, 1912, in
Boston, Messrs. Field, Hall and Ward being present. There was
a discussion of the situation, and the committee felt that the first
year of its work should be devoted to a general survey of the needs
and possibilities of eugenic work in immigration matters, rather than
to starting any original investigations.
The starting point for eugenic work in immigration seems to be
to ascertain in what particulars the present law governing the admis-
sion of aliens are defective or inadequate, and whether the adminis-
tration of those laws is or can be effective to shut out those elements
of immigration which are dangerous to the well being of the nation
for eugenic reasons. The need for information on these points is
the greater as our citizens generally know very little of what goes on
at the ports of entry. Furthermore what is printed in our news-
papers regarding administration methods is often false or misleading.
Your committee, therefore, consulted numerous immigration officials,
especially in New York and Boston; visited Ellis Island; talked with
Commissioner Williams and with New York State officials, and
went over a large number of official reports regarding immigration
and the methods of inspecting and deporting aliens.
As a result of this work, your committee finds that not only are
the immigration laws inadequate to effect the exclusion of the unfit,
but that the inspection is not as thorough as it ought to be, owing to
inadequate facilities, an insufficient number of inspectors, and the
frequent arrival of very large numbers of aliens at one time. It
further finds that in some cases the law is actually violated, both in
the spirit and in the letter.
A specific instance of the kind of thing that is now going on is the
case of Pace Chosen, a Hebrew boy arriving from Russia, February
15, 1912. The boy was certified as an imbecile by the examining
surgeon. This certificate was confirmed subsequently by three dif-
Report of the Immigration Committee 251
ferent medical boards summoned to pass on the case, and his condi-
tion was admitted by his family. Sect. 2, of the immigration act
and the case of Zatarian V. Billings, 204 U. S. 170, make it clear that
the boy was an alien and that his exclusion was mandatory. Inter-
cession was made, however, in his behalf by a Jewish organization
in Washington, and finally Secretary Nagel ordered him landed on
bond. In the similar case of Mosche Rabinowitz, landed November
13, 1909, the alien immediately became a public charge as an inmate
of an insane asylum in Missouri; and could not be deported, because
having been landed, he acquired citizenship through the citizenship
of his father.
These two instances show that even where the inspection is thor-
ough, unfit aliens are occasionally admitted, owing to alleged motives
of humanity or personal influence with the Department. That,
whatever the cause may be, large numbers of unfit persons are landed
every year is made clear by the experience of New York State. Ac-
cording to Goodwin Brown, Special Counsel to the New York
State Commission in Lunacy, the state has suffered an expense of
at least $25,000,000, to say nothing of the damage to the public
health, through the admission of defective aliens. By the last avail-
able census, New York State's foreign born population is less than
30 per cent, while the foreign born population of the insane hospitals
is over 50 per cent, reaching 65 per cent in New York City. In
Bellevue Hospital in 1908, 84 per cent were of foreign parentage!
Perhaps of even greater menace to the public health than the alien
insane, are the alien feeble-minded. The former are, at least to
some extent, segregated, and prevented from breeding; the latter,
except in one or two states are not segregated sufficiently to remove
the menace of their presence. Feeble-mindedness is peculiarly a
defect where family histories become important. In his report for
1911, Hon. William Williams, Commissioner of Immigration at New
York, has this to say about this class (Report of the Commissioner-
General, p. 147) :
I desire to add a few words on the subject of "feeble-minded" immigrants.
Our attention is from time to time called to the number of feeble-minded alien
children in the public schools of New York, many of whom have passed through
Ellis Island. One reason why they are not excluded is, as pointed out in my
last annual report, lack of time and facilities for thorough examination as to
mental condition. Another is that while idiocy and imbecility can usually
be recognized even in infancy, yet feeble-mindedness can rarely be discovered
so early, and is usually recognized only as the child approaches the school
age. As to children under 5 (and a great many such alien children come here).
252 American Breeders Magazine
it is probably correct to say that nothing short of an inquiry into their hered-
ity will enable the government to determine whether or not they are feeble-
minded, and since no such inquiry is now made, the law as to the exclusion
of young feeble-minded children is virtually a dead letter, and the Ellis Island
authorities have not the means at their command to vitalize it. Not only
is a feeble-minded person likely to become a charge upon the community, but
such an individual may leave feeble-minded descendants, and so start a vicious
strain that will lead to misery and loss in future generations and influence
unfavorably the characters and lives of hundreds of persons. A great majority
of feeble-minded children are born of parents who have suffered from feeble-
mindedness, insanity or epilepsy. A large proportion of the inmates of Elmira
reformatory are feeble-minded. The feeble-minded contribute largely to the
criminal class and are often the cause of incendiary fires. At a time when the
subject of feeble-mindedness is becoming more and more important in civ-
ilized countries and the nature and bearings of this taint are being carefully
studied by scientists the government would seem called upon to make far
greater efforts than it does to prevent the landing of feeble-minded immigrants.
From a eugenic standpoint, however, the danger from classi-
fiable defectives, great as this is, is probably less than the danger
from the much larger class of aliens who are below the mental and
physical average of their own countries and cannot fail to lower the
average here. To quote again from the report of Commissioner
Williams (Report of the Commissioner-General for 1909, p. 133):
I have already adverted to the easy-going character of our exclusion laws
and stated that even their strict enforcement keeps out only the very bad
elements of foreign countries. Between these elements and those that are
a real benefit to the country (as so many of our immigrants are) there lies a
class who may be quite able to earn a living here, but who in doing so tend to
pull down our standards of living I wish merely to emphasize
what must be known to every thinking person, that [this class] is coming here
in considerable numbers and that we are making no effort to exclude it.
In 1907, a clause was added to the immigration law debarring
those certified by a surgeon as being mentally or physically defective,
Such defect being likely to affect their ability to earn a living. The
object of those supporting this amendment was to have defectives
absolutely barred upon the surgeon's certificate; but it has been
construed so as to make the certificate merely one piece of evidence
to be considered by the board of special inquiry sitting on the case,
and so virtually reduces the eugenic question to the economic one
whether the alien is liable to become a public charge.
This construction is the more serious on account of a ruling of
the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, made February 8, 1912,
commonly known as "Decision No. 120." The law says (Sect. 20)
Report op the Immigration Committee
253
that an alien who becomes a public charge '/from causes existing
prior to landing" may be deported within three years from the date
of his entry. In this case a girl who entered in 1909 became an inmate
of a New York insane hospital in 1911. The New York State Board
of Alienists certified that the causes of insanity were constitutional
psychopathic tendencies and mental instability, and that these causes
existed prior to landing. A surgeon of the Marine Hospital Service
gave a similar certificate. The patient claimed a felonious assault
in 1911 as the cause of her condition. The Secretary ruled that
it had not been shown that the causes named by the surgeons were
the sole causes of the insanity; and that the department officials,
though possessing no medical knowledge, could revise the opinion
of medical experts. The New York State Board of Alienists vigor-
ously protested, quoting numerous medical authonties to show that
an external cause, like the alleged assault, could not be the cause of
the patient's condition; but deportation was refused, and the decision
still stands.
This decision as to deportation shows that it is even more important
than before to make examination at the time of entry thorough. It
also shows that if medical experts are of any value at all, the law
should be altered so as to make the decision of the medical officer,
or of a medical board on appeal, final. As a concrete illustration of
the present condition of things, it appears that in 1910 at one of our
largest ports, of 1483 aliens certified by the surgeons for serious mental
or physical defects, 1370 were landed. That such persons do not
delay in becoming public charges is shown by the experience of Mass-
achusetts in 1910.*
Class.
Total number.
Less than one year In United
States.
Insanity
99
31
22
49
Tuberculosis
31
Typhoid
21
Total
152
101
Attention should be called in this connection to another most
dangerous decision made by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
July 12, 1912, in the case of Biwke Polayes. This decision holds,
m effect, that minor foreign born children of naturalized citizens are
free from the operation of the immigration laws. In other words,
an alien may come here, take out naturalization papers, and bring
• Report of Surgeon of Public Health Service at Boston, for 1910.
254 American Breeders Magazine
in his children, even though they are idiotic, insane, tuberculous,
leprous, or otherwise dangerously diseased. Of course, in many cases
such children must at once be placed in institutions in order to protect
the public health, and, in many other cases, will soon become public
charges; while the danger of epidemics and general infection will be
greatly increased. This decision reverses the practice of the Immi-
gration Bureau since 1882, and is, we believe, in direct conflict with
the decision of the Supreme Court above referred to.
The commissioners at the various ports are undoubtedly doing
the best they can; but when 5000 aliens arrive in one day at Ellis
Island, as not infrequently happens, it is obvious that either they must
be detained for a longer time or more surgeons must be furnished
in order to have an adequate medical examination. In mental cases
especially, it may be necessary to have doubtful cases under exam-
ination for a longer time; but the saving of expense to the state and
municipal authorities as well as the protection of the public health
demand this.
Not only should Decision No. 120 be reversed, but the present
period of deportation should be extended to at least five years. There
is no time limit on the deportation of immoral persons. Why should
there be on other defectives and delinquents? Further, it seems to
your committee that instead of the burden of proof being placed as
now upon the government to show that the alien became a public
charge from causes arising prior to landing, the burden should be
upon the alien to show that the cause of his becoming a public charge
arose subsequent to his landing. The extension of the period to
five years has been recommended as to major criminals by the Immi-
gration Commission.
Under the present law transportation companies are liable to a
fine of $100 for bringing any idiot, imbecile, epileptic, or a person
having tuberculosis or a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease,
if the alien's condition could have been detected on embarkation
(Sec. 9). Although this provision has been in force several years,
the fines collected in 1911 amounted to $24,600, showing that the
companies are willing to take considerable risks. It has been found
that they sometimes protect themselves by requiring a deposit of
the amount of the fine. The Immigration Commission recommends
increasing the fine to a maximum of $500, leaving the minimum as
at present. Your committee endorses this recommendation.
Your committee has had access to the results of a questionnaire
sent in 1911 to all living graduates of the Harvard Medical School.
Report of the Immigration Committee 255
Of the replies received all but five favored a more rigid inspection
of immigrants and the application of more thorough physical and
mental tests. Many doctors having experience in immigrant local-
ities wrote strongly to the effect that the present inspection is not
sufficient.
Your committee recommends the adoption of the following reso-
lutions by the Eugenics Section for transmission to and adoption
by the American Breeders Association; and further recommends that
the Secretary of the Association send copies of these resolutions to
the President of the United States, and the members of the Immi-
gration Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives:
Whereas it appears that in spite of existing immigration legislation, and
the. faithful enforcement of such legislation by the Commissioners of Immi-
gration at New York and other ports, many mentally and physically defective
aliens obtain entrance to this country, to the detriment of the public health,
and of the eugenic future of the race, and to the burdening of the public
treasury,
Resolved : That in the opinion of this Association the decision known as
"Decision No. 120' ' and the decision that minor children of naturalized aliens
are exempt from the operation of the immigration laws should be at once
reversed.
Resolved : That the period of deportation (except in the case of immoral
persons, as to whom there is and should be no limit of time) should be extended
to five years, and that the burden of proof should be changed so that the alien
must show that the cause of his becoming a public charge arose subsequent
to landing.
Resolved : That the fines imposed on transportation companies for bring-
ing inadmissible aliens be made to cover also the bringing of insane persons,
and that the amount be changed to not less than $100 nor more than $500 in
each case.
Resolved: That enlarged facilities should be given the Commissioners of
Immigration at the various ports, especially at Ellis Island, in order that a
more thorough examination of aliens may be possible; and that a sufficient
number of expert alienists should be appointed to examine mental cases.
Professor Boas dissents from the conclusions and recommendations
of the Committee.
THE EUGENICAL ASPECT OF VENEREAL
DISEASE
H. E. Jordan*
University, Virginia
The most insistent reason for the eradication of the venereal dis-
eases, namely, the eugenic, does not seem to have received adequate
popular emphasis. Public sentiment is gradually being evolved,
and legislation framed, to protect the race against the reproductive
libertinism of the pauper, the criminal, and the idiot. Also, society
is now quite generally fully protected against such serious contagious
diseases as diphtheria, scarlet-fever, and small-pox. But nothing
short of criminal negligence still prevails almost universally in the
matter of protecting both the present generation and the future
race against the dangers of syphilis and gonorrhoea. There exists
not a single valid argument against the legal registration, isolation,
detention, and prohibition of marriage of certain classes of patients.
It is the purpose of this note to present what appear irrefutable
arguments for the statutory limitation of venereals, to attempt to
discover the speciousness of the arguments sometimes urged against
legal restrictive measures, and to evoke discussion of this matter so
supremely significant from the standpoint of the future race.
A serious consideration of the widespread prevalency and racial
harm of the "social diseases/' leaves no shadow of doubt that they
are fundamental and extremely pernicious anti-eugenic factors. At-
tention to other eugenic endeavors will be of little avail unless we
include in our program a crusade to the death upon venereal disease.
No interest can be paramount to that of the race. There can be no
loftier motive than to aid in the production and universal establish-
ment of the highest type of physical, moral, and intellectual man,
within the limits of human protoplasm. This being granted, all
questions of practicality and constitutionality must give way to right.
Nothing can be more practical than the elimination of economic
and racial inefficiency. When we agree that it is right to eradicate
venereal diseases — and no one will seriously argue the point — then
it would seem that those measures which will most speedily effect
this condition are the most justifiable. The personal liberty and
individual comfort of the unfortunates need, and should, be regarded
a Chairman of the Eugenics Section of the American Association for the Study and Prevention
of Infant Mortality. In slightly altered and amplified form this paper was presented at the Cleve-
land meeting, October 3, 1912.
m
Jordan: Eugenical Aspect of Venereal Disease 257
only to an extent not incompatible with full protection to society
and the race. Society surely has a right, even an obligation, to
guard its well-being against destructive and deleterious agencies.
Under the heading Prudery, in an article on "The Sterilization
of Criminals and Defectives," Dr. John N. Hurty, State Health
Commissioner of Indiana, writes thus:
What are we doing for posterity in the protection of human blood and human
health? We are permitting thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thou-
sands of human beings to marry and reproduce their own kind, when at the
time of their marriage they are deviates or they are afflicted with unmention-
able diseases which if they will not directly cause death, will visit themselves
to the third and fourth generation in the forms of blindness, bone disease,
insanity, imbecility and all varieties of tuberculosis and cause nervous wrecks,
moral degenerates, and perverts. We are doing this because we will not stop
it, not because we cannot. 'Tis puling, pursy prudery which prevents. We
are filling our almshouses, hospitals, jails, penitentiaries and homes for the
morally and physically unfortunate, by our refusal to meet the social question,
the sex problem, the prevention of the procreation of degenerates, in an honest,
sensible, pure-minded manner. The medical fraternity knows the horrible
price modern society is paying for this prudery. Their hospital records and
the records of their private practice, were they made public, would be the
blow that would stagger humanity.
The need for some radical immediate action is surely obvious.
But what can be done? And how? The problem is more difficult
than that of preventing the reproduction of ordinary defectives.
Here sterilization (vasectomy) can be resorted to. But such measure
will not help in the case of syphilis and gonorrhoea, for the infection
would still remain. Registration, in order that the public may be
in a better position to protect itself against this type of infection;
detention under custodial care, until pronounced permanently cured
by expert authority, in order that the source of infection may be
properly controlled; and legal prohibition to marriage, in order that
innocent and noble women may not be betrayed into a life of misery
and sterility and that children may not be born with blighted heritage.
One or the other of these safeguards alone will not be effective in
meeting the demands of the situation; all together, coupled with an
educational propaganda, must be observed coincidentally.
What are the difficulties regarding registration? First, expense.
But in a country as potentially rich as America, and one that spends
more than $100,000,000 annnually in caring for its defectives and
unfortunates, this additional expense is a mere bagatelle. The crea-
tion and maintenance of the necessary machinery for registration
258 American Breeders Magazine
are relatively simple matters. How will regulation effect the solic-
itation of professional help on the part of those infected? Will not
some continue untreated, become more virulent foci of infection
and of protracted standing, suffer needless incapacity, and die a need-
less death in consequence? Possibly. But this condition is an inev-
itable transition phase from the old to the new order of things. More-
over, it being common knowledge that infected individuals will be
registered in the department of health, any candidates for debauch
may be restrained from taking the risks. Once the public is properly
informed concerning the true and serious nature of these diseases,
public sentiment will not simply tolerate, but indeed demand, reg-
istration.
What are the difficulties in the way of custodial care? Again,
great expense. But wars have been fought and are being paid for;
enormous quantities of tobacco, liquor and narcotics are still being
consumed — without good, indeed with positive harm to the race —
and the whole expense is patiently and cheerfully borne. Perhaps
if it were made clear to our generation that, in consequence of our
supine indifference and our shortsighted satisfaction with simply
palliative measures, our children and grandchildren will inherit heavy
burdens in the shape of enormous demands for the support of ever-
increasing misery and incompetence, and that the welfare of the
race is being jeopardized, we might become willing to sacrifice the
enjoyment of superfluous comforts for this altruistic and of racial
salvage. Surely no other course seems to hold such promise of per-
manent solution.
What are the difficulties in the way of procuring and enforcing
restrictive legislation against the marriage of gonorrhoeal and syph-
ilitic patients? In this case, only relatively small expense. But we
we will have to combat here legislative lack of information, public
prejudice, moral inertia, legal conservatism, clerical and institutional
opposition, medical professional ethics, and the universal traditional
fetish of "personal liberty" and "equal rights." Perhaps all that
is needed, however, to overcome the opposition is a common sense
educational propaganda. Progress may be slow, but a successful
issue is inevitable.
Dr. Charles Elliots 7 remarks (The Crusade for Sex Hygiene) seem
pertinent:
It is absolutely inconsistent with all other public health measures that vene-
real patients, patients with syphilis or gonorrhoea, should be allowed to keep
these diseases secret, should be walking about the streets, working in the shops
Jordan: Eugenical Aspect of Venereal Disease 259
and factories, sitting in the street cars, and frequenting the hotels. We do
not allow such conduct nowadays with regard to any other contagious diseases.
It is high time, gentlemen, that this practice within the medical
profession should be brought to an end, and that all venereal diseases should
be registered and made- subject to control as scarlet fever, diphtheria, and
small-pox are. Indeed, the reasons for publicity with regard to venereal
diseases are stronger than they are with regard to any other of the contagious
diseases. In the second place, cities and states should make large public
provision in dispensaries and hospitals for the treatment of the venereal dis-
eases. They should be treated with a view to prevent their further distribu-
tion through the community.
In the third place, the practice of the medical profession needs to be com-
pletely changed in regard to their sense of responsibility towards innocent
people who may be infected by persons whom the physicians know to have
venereal disease. That is a very important point, and it is going to be a very
difficult point in the prosecution of this crusade. It is the practice of many
physicians to conceal the fact that the young man who is under treatment
for venereal disease is so affected, even when the physician knows that the
young man is about to marry an innocent girl. Many physicians justify that
concealment, and say it is the only mode of action consistent with the general
ethics of the profession, namely, a sacred confidence between the physician
and his patient. That sort of ethics ought no longer to be endured.
But the most important phase of the evil, the primary cause of
its considerable prevalency even among the better classes, remains
to be considered, namely, prostitution. The publication of the
Report (1911) of the Vice Commission appointed by the Mayor of
Chicago — a commission composed of some of the best men and women
of that city — gives cause for hope that measures for the extermination
of prostitution will soon receive more general intelligent considera-
tion. Above all, the report makes very clear that prostitution is
not a negligible evil, but one of prime and fundamental import.
When we are told that in Chicago alone $16,000,000 are the profits
annually accruing from this vice, served professionally by 6000 (the
most conservative estimate) potentially -useful young women, and
patronized by thousands of the best young manhood of our country,
the evil appears as the most momentous that society has to contend
against. For the ruin of this fair manhood, the consequent frequent
suffering and sterility of their later marriage-mates, and the blasting
of little children's lives presents a picture truly appalling. Multiply
Chicago proportionately by the number of cities in this country and
the world, and then contemplate the enormity of the results in terms
of misery, degradation, poverty, blasted homes, ruined lives, and
racial injury! Truly, this is not an evil that we can longer afford
to harbor and neglect. Miss Jane Addams, of Hull House, Chicago,
260 American Breeders Magazine
in her recent series of four splendid articles in McClure's Magazine
(1911-12) on "A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil," sympathet-
ically portrays the evil in faithful colors and proper perspective. She
would pay the price of another Civil War to rid the country per-
manently of this curse, and deem it infinite gain. It is most grati-
fying that social workers of her type and caliber sternly refuse to
compromise with medical inspection, segregation, or "regulation"—
in short, with anything less than absolute eradication. To say that
to abolish an evil as old as the race is impractical or impossible is
to belie one's native aspirations for a better world, and one's peren-
nial faith in the final triumph of right. If prostitution ought to be
abolished if it be possible, then it can be abolished, for what is right is
possible. Indeed, for the life of the nation and the race it must be
abolished.
One wishes to solicit here especially the help of the medical pro-
fession who too frequently simply connive at prostitution and its
sequelae of disease; and of the clergy who largely ignore the latter in
their relation to marriage. It is wrong also that physicians to
venereal patients should count fidelity to the Hippocratic oath as of
more consequence than the saving of an innocent girl from a neces-
sarily unhappy marriage, and her possible offspring from probable
defect. If the Hippocratic oath works such ill it ought no longer
to be administered. Nor will properly trained high-minded physi-
cians any longer respect it in those instances where it means harm
to an unsuspecting individual or the unborn race.
Men have long held the legislative reins. Concerning those mat-
ters which relate most closely to woman's welfare and that of the race
they have sometimes been indifferent and at other times they
have largely bungled. They need expert advice from those most con-
cerned, the women, to whom the future race is most closely related.
Only woman can fully know the price paid for human life. She will
no longer tolerate to have so valuable a thing so recklessly produced
and so ruthlessly squandered.
Women will soon be universally admitted to equal suffrage with
men, because it is right that they should be if they desire. The
suffragist movement contains great possibilities for powerfully abet-
ting the eugenic propaganda. Woman will legislate to properly pro-
tect herself as the "mother" of the race against wanton infection.
She instinctively feels more keenly the importance of conserving
the greatest national asset, human life, and will bring about proper
action for the preservation of the best elements of the race. Of
1
Detlefsen: Fertility of Hybrids 261
course we shall probably have to pass through a period marked by
radicalism and extremes. This is perhaps inevitable. But even-
tually men and women will together work out some ethical code of
life in accordance with the best eugenic ideals.
THE FERTILITY OF HYBRIDS IN A MAMMA-
LIAN SPECIES-CROSS
John Detlefsen
Laboratory of Genetics, Bussey Institution, Harvard University
Sterility is a common phenomenon in the hybrids obtained by
mating members of distantly related groups or types, both in animals
and in plants. In fact, there is a tacit understanding among the
taxonomists that members of the same species produce fertile off-
spring when mated inter se; but a successful cross between members
of different species or genera may result in sterility of one or both
sexes among the hybrids. In case both sexes are sterile, a further
genetic study becomes impossible. When one sex alone among the
hybrids is sterile, that sex is usually the male; and since the females
are fertile, it becomes possible to study the inheritance of characters
and fertility of offspring by crossing these female hybrids back to
the males of either parent species.
Among mammals, at least, work on inheritance and fertility in
species crosses is in its inception. Various compilers, such as Rorig
and Przibram, have given lists of mammalian species crosses, with
brief mention of the partial or complete dominance of one parent,
and the fertility of the hybrids, when known. Grateful as we are
for the facts that are thus accumulated, we must, nevertheless, admit
their general inadequacy; for most mammalian species crosses were
made by those who were merely interested in sheer possibility of the
cross. Those breeders who are interested in the economic mammals
have been the most fortunate, because most attention has been
directed to their study. The consensus of opinion is that the time-
honored cross between horse and ass results in sterile male mules
but that the female mule is occasionally fertile with either the horse
or ass (Waldow von Wahl, 1907). The zebroid (zebra X horse) is
supposedly sterile in both sexes (Ewart, 1899; Iwanoff, 1911). The
same is true of the zebrule (zebra X ass). When the cow and bison
are crossed, they produce fertile female catteloes, but sterile males
(Boyd, 1908; Iwanoff, 1911).
262 American Breeders Magazine I
I
The offspring of the fertile female mule have merely been men-
tioned, but further reports regarding their fertility and other char-
acters are lacking. The female hybrids between the cow and bison
have been crossed back to males of both parent stocks, thus produc-
ing one-quarter bison, or three-quarters bison. The one-quarter
bison females are fertile, as may be expected. The three-quarters
bison female have not been fully tested, but are possibly also fertile.
The one-quarter bison males are not always fertile, for Boyd reports
the appearance of but one out of four tested males. Iwanoff reports
a fertile three-quarters bison male; and supposes, on purely theoret-
ical grounds, that a mating of such a fertile male with a quarter-
bison female would result in fertile one-half bison of both sexes, *£]
Material. — It has been the good fortune of the writer to work with
the progeny of a mammalian species cross which in many respects
is comparable to the horse-ass cross and bison-cow cross. It is my
purpose to report briefly on the fertility of these offspring. The
parent species were the wild Brazilian cavy (Cavia rufescens) and
the domesticated guinea-pig (Cavia porcellus). The two forms differ
consistently and clearly in color, texture of hair, size, shape of skulls
and skull sutures, tooth formation, and the like. There is no doubt
but that the two parent stocks are separate species; for, even if the
evidence of the systematist were really arbitrary, such evidence must
obtain more weight when one considers that the male hybrids are
completely sterile.
The original crosses between these two species were the result of
mating the wild males to the tame females. The reciprocal cross
was not attempted, for, it was feared that the smaller wild female
would succumb in pregnancy when mated to the much larger sized
tame male. The wild males were wholly fertile, with tame females,
although matings were secured only with much difficulty. The
tame females bore their hybrid young in due time and with the usual
guinea-pig average per litter. Now since the average number per
litter in the tame guinea-pig is much larger than in the wild, and
since a tame female gives this larger average, even when impregnated
by a wild male, we have every reason to believe that such wild males
are wholly fertile with tame females and the abundant number of
spermatozoa insures complete fertilization. Having obtained these
one-half wild hybrids, the females were mated back to the wild males
and the tame guinea-pig males, producing three-quarters wild, and
one-quarter wild respectively. The matings to the wild males were
not very successful and only one three-quarters wild male was reared
Detlefsen: Fertility op Hybrids 263
to maturity. He was sterile. The matings to the tame males were
wholly successful, and produced 83 one-quarter wild. Pursuing the
same method of mating the hybrid females of one generation back
to the tame guinea-pig males, there were produced a regular series
of more dilute wild-blooded generations ranging from J wild to the
3tt wild. In all, over 1700 hybrids of various blood dilutions have
thus been produced. The fertility of about 400 male hybrids has
been tested. All female hybrids are fertile.
Problems. — The wild males were wholly fertile in captivity, hence
captivity itself may. be eliminated as a factor causing the sterility
of their less wild hybrid sons. The problem immediately suggested
itself: how great must be the blood dilution, or for how many gen-
erations must the hybrid females be crossed back to the guinea-pig
in order to eventually produce fertile male hybrids? When fertile
male hybrids were produced, would all their offspring be fertile in
both sexes, if such males were mated to their hybrid sisters or guinea-
pig females?
Method. — To judge an animal's fertility, the breeding test is hardly
sufficient. It is well known that a male may be potentially fertile,
and yet fail to show it because of some physiological state, such as
the emaciation of sickness or the sluggishness of obesity. Further-
more the number of males to be tested increased so rapidly that
facilities were lacking to breed all of them. Hence, another test
was devised. By making a small incision in the scrotum and punc-
turing the epididymis at one or several points, and placing the liquid
contents in a normal salt solution at bodily temperature, with the
aid of a microscope a complete index of the male's fertility was
obtained.
Results. — Now, whereas any male always gave the same microscopic
test during his adult life, there was a great difference between indi-
vidual hybrids. Some males might not possess any sperm at all;
but in their place were found a few or many incompletely matured
spermatogonia. Other males might possess a few non-motile or motile
spermatozoa in addition. Still others might have an abundance of
motile spermatozoa, just as any normal male. All grades and com-
binations were found; but the last class alone could be successfully
mated to females. Fully 200 offspring from such males have been
born.
The results of the experiments on the male hybrids up through
the sixth generation are given in the table presented. The one-half
wild hybrid males had no spermatozoa. The succeeding generations
264
American Breeders Magazine
of less intense wild males present a consistent series, in which a con-
tinually increasing percentage of males show spermatozoa. Of the
21 males tested in the sixth generation, or the -g-V wild, all had sper-
matozoa. But the mere presence of sperm does not produce fertile
males. In order that fertilization of the egg shall take place, the
sperm must be motile to reach and penetrate the egg. Many males
with immotile sperm were mated to. females, but invariably gave the
same result: no progeny.
When we consider those males which had any motile spermatozoa
whatsoever, we find the same sort of a series. The ^ wild hybrid
males had no sperm and naturally would have none which were
motile. The J wild males likewise had no motile sperm, although we
saw in the previous column that 25 per cent showed sperm. The
| wild males were the first which showed motile sperm, and were
likewise the first to be successfully mated with females. The per-
Tabl
e of fertility
Total number
tested.
of hybrid males.
Class of hybrids.
per cent with
any sperm.
per cent with
any motile
sperm.
per cent readily
fertile.
* wild
6
i wild
22
25.0
i wild
71
47.8
17.3
9.8
A wild
04
71.1
46.6
35.5
A wild
80
88.7
62.9
60.7
A wild
21
100.0
66.7
66.7
centage of males with motile sperm increased rapidly in each succeed-
ing generation until finally the V* wild showed 66.7 per cent with
motile sperm. So far as I have been able to test, it would seem that
any male with motile spermatozoa is fertile; but in those cases in
which immatured spermatogonia or non-motile spermatozoa greatly
outnumber the motile spermatozoa, the chances that such will reach
and penetrate an egg are small. An intimate study of the motility
of sperm and the possibilities of obtaining offspring from male hybrids,
has led me to believe that any male with an abundance of motile sperm
is readily fertile. Abundance of motile sperm means at least one-
half motile. The last column gives the percentages of male hybrids
in each generation, which are readily fertile and which can successfully
impregnate females. This last category shows the same sort of
increase that the others show. It is therefore clear that fertile male
hybrids may be produced in constantly increasing numbers in the
offspring of a cross which originally gave only sterile males and fertile
1
i
Laughlin: Eugenics Field Workers Conference 265
females. In the original cross, elements are introduced or formed
which prevent the full maturation of the male reproductive cells, but
the female reproductive cells seem unaffected. These disturbing
elements may be eliminated by continually crossing the female hybrids
back to normal tame males, thus producing fertile male hybrids.
Offspring of fertile male hybrids. — It is not out of place to mention
the fertility of the sons of the fertile male hybrids. The male hybrids
with an abundance of motile spermatozoa could be successfully
mated to female hybrids, and to tame female guinea-pigs.
When a fertile male hybrid was mated to a female hybrid their
male offspring were not necessarily fertile. We hardly expected
they would be, for the female might transmit the disturbing elements
in this cross just as much as when mated to a tame guinea-pig. About
forty male hybrids from this sort of a cross have been tested, and
they give all grades between absolute sterility and fertility.
When, on the other hand, a fertile male hybrid was mated to the
guinea-pig female, all the male offspring have been fertile. This is
the expected outcome, for the fertile male hybrid may be regarded
as a sort of recessive, in which the disturbing elements introduced
in the original cross have been eliminated; and when he is mated
to the female guinea-pig, no such elements are again introduced.
About thirty male hybrids from this class of crosses have been tested
and all found to be wholly fertile.
Practical application. — If the cattaloes, mules, and other mamma-
lian hybrids are at all comparable to the hybrids in these experiments,
then fertile races of such hybrids may be produced in the same man-
ner. As a simple illustration, I may say that all the color, coat, size,
and anatomical characters known in guinea-pigs, have been trans-
ferred to these hybrids. Any combination of these characters may
be united with fertility. It is conceivable that desired characters
in hybrids between other mammalian species may be combined with
fertility of both sexes, in the same manner.
FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE
EUGENICS FIELD WORKERS
Supt. H. H. Laughlin
Cold Spring Harbor, New York
The recent interest in the study of human heredity has led to the
development of a new sort of specialist — the eugenics field worker —
266 American Breeders Magazine
whose business it is to go into the home neighborhoods of certain per-
sons for the purpose of studying and charting their family connections
and describing each individual of the network with care and accuracy
with special reference to traits characteristic of the family. Modern
eugenic research which seeks among other things, to determine the
maimer of the inheritance of traits demands that authentic and
extended pedigrees be provided for study. Experience has taught
that such data can be secured only by sending trained field workers
into the home territories as above mentioned. Up to the time
of this conference, which was called by Dr. Davenport at the
Eugenics Record Office, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York,
on June 20 and 21, 1912, thirty-two persons had, at some time during
the preceding three years, been engaged in this new sort of work.
Twenty of these workers were present at the conference.
Prior to this meeting several meetings of the research committees of
the Eugenics Section of the American Breeders Association had been
held, but there the research committees held sway and the field worker
played a secondary r61e. The June meeting, however, was primarily
a field workers' meeting. They met for the purpose of exchanging
experiences, for receiving fresh inspiration and new ideals, for stand-
ardizing the methods of charting authentic pedigrees, and for stand-
ardizing the use of descriptive terms. The methods for recording
descriptions of individuals and for charting family pedigrees suited
to eugenic study were standardized in 1910 by the Eugenics Record
Office, the Skillman School for Epileptics, Skillman, N. J., and the
Training School at Vineland, N. J., and published in Bulletin No. 2
of the Eugenics Record Office. This Bulletin will shortly be sup-
plemented by Bulletin No. 7 — the Family History Book by Dr. C. B.
Davenport. This latter bullentin is in reality a field workers' manual.
In view of the rapidly growing demand for trained field workers
in eugenics it is doubtless of interest to recall that this method of
securing at first hand the data for the careful study of the inheritance
of human traits was foreshadowed by Robert L. Dugdale in his work
on" the "Jukes" in the isolated valleys of New York; by Dr. Oscar
McCullough of Indianapolis who, a generation ago, instituted field
study of the degenerate "Ishmaelites" of Indiana; and by Dr. Alex-
ander Graham Bell, who made a careful family trait survey of Martha's
Vineyard, R. I. Such field work in human heredity has for its purpose
the working out of pedigrees of sufficient accuracy and detail to
justify prediction as to the hereditary potentialities of selected strains
and individuals.
4
Laughlin: Eugenics Field Workers Conference 267
The work in the study of human heredity in America followed
closely upon the genetics revival of recent years. Prof. C. W. Far-
abe6, of Harvard University, who made observations on the inher-
itance of brachydactylism, and Dr. and Mrs. Davenport of the Car-
negie Station for Experimental Evolution, who made studies in the
inheritance of the characteristics of human eye color, and skin color
and hair color and form, were the earliest American investigators
by the new methods, of human traits. The growth of eugenics
research has been so rapid within the last three years that now insti-
tutions in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey,
Michigan, and Minnesota are employing trained field workers. Since
this conference was held (the date of this writing is August 15, 1912)
this office has made agreements with one institution in Minne-
sota, one in Illinois, one in New York, one in Pennsylvania, and two
more in Massachusetts whereby trained field workers are to begin
eugenic studies on October 1, 1912. Two more workers are also to
be added to the office staff of the Eugenics Record Office.
This growth is permanent because it is built upon truth. A body
of facts, sufficient to enable eugenists to determine the laws govern-
ing the behavior in heredity of specific traits, is being built up by
the professional work of these trained field workers. Slowly but
surely eugenics is wresting from nature the truth concerning the
manner of the inheritance of human traits, and it is becoming appar-
ent to state administrative and institution officials, to social workers,
and to men of science generally that the problems of the social mis-
fits among humanity are at root biological problems that ultimately
must be solved by applying biological remedies, in essence if not in
external or social aspect identical, with those applied by the breeders
of plants and animals in the rise of domestication. New York State,
through its State Board of Charities, has recently established a Bureau
of Analysis and Investigation. This is essentially a bureau of eugen-
ics, and will devote its attention to the eugenic aspects of the work
of the State Board of Charities. Dr. Gertrude E. Hall is chief of
this new bureau, and has recently held its first civil service exami-
nation for the selection of field workers. Ultimately every state
must look toward the cutting off of its supply of defectives rather
than of maintaining more institutions as the final solution of the
problem of social misfits, and from the history of the field workers
movement in the last three years, it is evident that the states are
appreciating the ultimate possibilities of applied eugenics.
American Breeders Magazine
LOMO ISIAND, NgW VOBK, JoXE 20 AMD- 21, 1912
Standing (Itjt to right).— Mary M. Slurges, employed by the Eugenics Record Office In studying
consanguineous marriages on the Islands aft the Maine Coast. Former Eugenics work, study of
family distribution of cancer for the Crocker Cancer Research Fund.
E. P. Moore, employed jointly by the Eugenics Record Office and the New Jersey State Hospital,
Trenton, N. J., In studying the Inheritance of Insanity Id the New Jersey State Hospital. Former
eugenics assignment, study of family dlstrll
Helen T. Reeves, employed by New J.
N. J., In studying the inheritance of feebh
Formerly employed jointly by that Inst I tul
Elisabeth 8. Klt«, employed by the Vlneland {N. J.) Trait
and Girls lu studying the Inheritance uffeeble-inlndodness I
Marlon Collins, employed by the Honson Stabs Hospl
itaoco of epilepsy In the families represented In that Instl
Dr. Elisabeth B. Muncey, employed by the Eugenics
of Huntington's chorea In New York. Connecticut, New
Jane H. Ross, employed jointly by the Eugenics Ret
for the Insane, Washington, D. C., In studying the Inherits,!
e Hornet
Eugenics Record Office.
■d Office In studying
, and Pennsylvania
Altai, Hatl
Ruth W. Law ton, e
Dorchester, Mass., In
Veda Elvin, employed by the New York St
In studying the Inheritance of halts of dellnquer.
Ethel C. Mscomber. employed jointly by tb
State Hospital, Concord, N. H., in studying t
Institution.
nen, Bedford Hills, N. Y-,
e and the New Hampshire
Laughlin: Eugenics Field Workeks Conference 269
Florence H. Danlelson, employed by the Eugenics Record Office In making a eugenics survey of
Woodbury Town, Connecticut. Former assignments, jointly employed by the Eugenics Record
Office and the Monson State Hospital, Palmer, Mass., in studying the inheritance of epilepsy in fam-
ilies represented in the latter institution. Employed by the Eugenics Record Office in studying
the inheritance of skin color in mulatto families in Bermuda and Jamaica, B. W. I.
Sitting (left to right). — Dr. Arthur H. Estabrook, employed by the Eugenics Record Office In
extending the studies of Robert L. Dugdale on the "Jukes." Former assignments, study of the
inheritance of albinism in Eastern Massachusetts, and the study of Inheritance in the criminal insane
at the Matteawan State Hospital Flshkill-on-Hudson, New York, and the study of the heredity
of the " Nam" family of degenerates in " Nam Hollow."
Amey B. Eaton, employed jointly by the Eugenics Record Office and the Utah Agricultural Col-
lege, Logan, Utah, in studying the inheritance of mental and physical traits in the Mormon families
in Salt Lake Valley, Utah. Formerly employed by the Eugenics Record Office in seeking data upon
the inheritance of biological traits recorded in American genealogies, and in studying the inheritance
of mental and physical traits in the Amish sect in Pennsylvania.
Mrs. D. L. F. Woodward, employed by the Skillman (N. J.) State Village for Epileptics, in study-
ing the inheritance of epilepsy in families represented in that institution.
Florence Orr, employed jointly by the Eugenics Record Office and the New Jersey State Hospital,
Trenton, N. J., in studying the inheritance of insanity in the families represented in the latter insti-
tution. Former eugenics work; in Kings Park State Hospital, Kings Park, N. Y., studying the inher-
itance of insanity in families represented in that institution.
H. H. Laughlin, Superintendent of the Eugenics Record Office.
C. B. Davenport, trustee and director of the Eugenics Record Office; Director of the Station
for Experimental Evolution, Carnegie Institute of Washington, Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island,
New York.
William F. Blades, editorial secretary, Eugenics Record Office. Also especially studying the
Inheritance of hare-lip and cleft palate.
Besides those who attended the meeting, the following have also been
engaged in field work in eugenics: Miss Jane Griffith, who was for
some time employed in field work by the Vineland (N. J.) Training
School; Miss Saidee C. Devitt, now a field worker of the Faribault,
Minnesota, School for Feeble-Minded, was formerly employed by
the Skillman School for Epileptics in the same work; Mary O. Dranga
was formerly employed by the Eugenics Record Office in studying
the inheritance of factors in juvenile delinquency in the Chicago
Psychopathic Institute and later engaged in extending the work of
Dr. Oscar McCullough on the "Ishmaelites" of Indiana; Adele
McKinnie is employed jointly by the Eugenics Record Office and
the Michigan School for Feeble-Minded, Lapeer, Mich.; Maud W.
Moore, formerly employed by the Vineland Training School in eugenics
field work; Gertrude C. Cannon, formerly employed by the Kings
Park State Hospital, Kings Park, N. Y.; Miss Florence R. Davis,
archivist, Eugenics Record Office; Susan K. Gillian, employed by
the Eugenics Record Office in studying the inheritance of skin color
in mulatto families in Louisiana; Dr. Jaime de Angulo, employed
by the Eugenics Record Office in describing the effects of vasectomy
upon the inmates of the Indiana Reformatory, Jeff ersonville, Indiana,
and later in charting out pedigrees of these men with reference to
criminalistic traits; and H. H. Le Seur, who has succeeded Dr. de
Angulo in the same work.
SOME BIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL
BREEDING
W. E. Castle
Bussey Institution, Forest Hills, Massachusetts
Animal breeding is the most ancient of all arts. Its beginnings
antedate civilization, going back to a time when man lived as the
beasts of prey live, subsisting upon such animals as he could catch
or kill. As man increased the game began to decrease, and the more •
provident would keep alive for a time the young of their favorite
animal, when taken, until these young had grown larger and would
yield more food. Often no doubt, a feeling of attachment grew up
between captor and captive and the day of slaughter was postponed
until the captive had reached breeding age. If young were born in
captivity, the thought must at once have occurred to the observer,
"Here is an easier and more sure way of getting food than by hunt-
ing; why not raise cattle and sheep rather than hunt them." But
not all men reasoned thus or, if they did, abandoned the chase,
for this continued with increased vigor. The game grew scarcer
and wilder and was pursued into less accessible places. Horses
and wild dogs were employed to aid in the chase. Wild cattle were
hunted to death and wholly exterminated, and wild sheep were almost
exterminated. The disappearance of the wild form gave impetus
to the propagation of the tame one. Thus the pastoral stage of
man's existence was reached. He moved from place to place in
search of forage for his flocks and herds, the dog and the horse being
his assistants. The most important of our domesticated animals
trace back their existence to this stage of culture. The flocks and
herds furnished flesh, milk, clothing and shelter; the horse trans-
portation; the dog defense, aid in the care of the flock, and, not least,
companionship. Under the open sky, watching the stars by night
and the changing seasons by day, man laid the foundation of the
first science, astronomy. In the fertile river valleys, he found he
could raise food for himself and his animals when the supply on the
plains grew short. Thus agriculture began. It necessitated fixed
abode in one spot, regulations as to land-tenure, irrigation, and the
like. New uses were now found for the animals; the ox was yoked
to the plow, and the horse was harnessed. Thus civilization began,
largely through the instrumentality of domesticated animals.
Though animal breeding is the oldest and most fundamental of
the arts, its practise down to the present time has been almost wholly
270
Castle: Biological Pbinciples of Animal Breeding 271
empirical. A science of animal breeding scarely yet exists, not
because thoughtful men have failed to give attention to the subject
but rather because of its inherent difficulty. We breed animals as
our fathers and grandfathers did because their time-honored methods
succeed and we know of no reason for changing those methods. In-
deed we can not expect to improve them in a rational way until we
learn why certain methods succeed and why others fail. Such knowl-
edge of the underlying reasops for successful practise will when secured
constitute a science of animal breeding.
The technique of successful animal breeding is difficult and special
in the case of each kind of domesticated animal and can best be
learned from an apprenticeship on a farm or study in a farm school.
The general principles empirically deduced from centuries of practise
may be concisely stated thus:
(1) Like begets like, hence the breeder must select for propagation
the type of animal he desires to perpetuate.
(2) Pedigree counts. The desired type is more certain to occur
among the offspring, if it has occurred repeatedly among the ancestors.
(3) Inbreeding brings uniformity of type but causes loss of vigor.
(4) Crossbreeding increases vigor but destroys uniformity of type..
No one of these generalizations is universally true. To state the
recognized limitations and exceptions would be to recapitulate the
literature of breeding with the omission only of its technique. The
new science of genetics is concerned with the discovery of the reasons
for these four empirical generalizations and their various exceptions.
To the very first of the four generalizations there are frequent
exceptions as every experienced breeder knows. Like does not
always beget like. Thus roan short-horned cattle do not always
breed true. They produce their like, roans, in about 1 case out of
2, but in the remaining case an all-red or an all white or a spotted
red-and-white animal is likely to be produced. Blue Andalusian fowls
are another well known exception to the rule that like produces like.
Besides producing blue offspring, Andalusian fowls produce also
black ones and white ones. Yellow mice are another unfixable vari-
ety of animal. They breed true in about 2 cases out of 3. In the third
case a black or brown pigmented animal is produced. Illustrations
need not be multiplied; the literature of breeding is full of cases in
which like has failed to produce like. Until quite recent years no
satisfactory explanation of such cases has been forthcoming. Why
a roan variety of cattle or a blue variety of fowl should be fixable to
the extent of 60 per cent, whereas yellow mice should be fixable to
272 American Breeders Magazine
the extent of 66 per cent was quite incomprehensible until a general
law of color inheritance had been worked out.
The first serious attempt to formulate a general law of heredity
was made in 1889 by Francis Galton, a pioneer in the study of genetics.
He went about the matter in a systematic way, first collecting facts
and then generalizing from them. In studying family records of
the height of human beings he observed both that like begets like
and that pedigree counts. For tall children are in general born only
to tall parents, and the children are more certain to be tall if the
grandparents also have been tall. He concluded that the resemblance
of children to their grandparents was on the average only half as
close as to their parents. Or to express it mathematically, if we call
the parental influence one-half, that of the grandparents is one-
fourth; that of the great-grandparents one-eighth; and so on, each
earlier generation of ancestors exerting only half as much influence
as the next later one. This generalization, at first adopted tentatively
only, Galton called the law of ancestral heredity. It states the facts
of relative average size of ancestors and offspring about as well as
we can state them at the present time, but offers no biological expla-
nation of this relation. Nor does it inform us as to the probable
limits of size variation among the children. This so-called law of
Galton in reality rests on a false biological assumption, viz., that the
character of the germ-cell regularly corresponds with that of the
parent producing it. Galton himself recognized and pointed out
this defect, but could devise no way of obviating it.
In order to test his empirical law more widely Galton in 1897 applied
it to a case where it is now clearly not applicable, viz., to color inher-
itance in mammals. The particular case selected by him for study
was unfortunately a peculiarly difficult one, viz., the inheritance of
black spots in Bassett hounds. The result was that he reached
erroneous conclusions.
The race of dogs studied was the Bassett hounds of Sir Everett
Millais, a carefully bred race having the short crooked legs of a ^
Dachshund combined with the spotted coat of a beagle. Careful
records had been kept of the breeding of these dogs for many gener-
ations. In most respects they had been bred to a uniform type, but
in color two different conditions occurred. The dogs were all (or
nearly all) spotted yellow-and-white. Part of them bore in addition
spots of black, being thus tricolor yellow-black-and-white. Those
without black spots were called by Galton non-tricolor.
Galton found on examination of the records that parents of one
Castle : Biological Principles of Animal Breeding 273
sort may produce young of the other sort as well as its own, though
in smaller numbers. Neither kind, then, breeds entirely true, though
each tends to produce its like. It was found further that parents
produce a larger proportion of offspring like themselves if the grand-
parents also have been of that same sort. Hence there exists an
apparent ancestral influence which Galton believed to be roughly
approximated by his mathematical law. That this influence is
apparent only, not real, I hLve shown elsewhere."
Galton had verified in this case as in that of human stature, the
two, century-old generalizations, "Like begets like" and "Pedigree
counts." He had attempted to measure the force of pedigree in
his law of ancestral heredity, but not to account for it.
A more successful attempt to formulate a general law of heredity
had been made some years earlier by Gregor Mendel, but this was
unknown to Galton as to other biologists of that time. We call it
Mendel's law. In accordance- with this law, the facts of color inher-
itance observed by Galton can be more fully explained.
It is a fundamental feature of this law that the characteristics of
animals and plants are inherited as units. For example, in figure
1 are seen the skins of a family of rats; of the parents at the left, of
their offspring at the right. The parents obviously differ in color-
ation, and the young are divided in a corresponding way into two
groups approximately equal. Five of thcyoung resemble one parent,
a The Laws of E
sredlty of Galton and Mendel, and Some Laws Governing Race Improve™
by Selection. Prot
Am. Acad. Arts and Sol., vol. 39, pp. 223-242, 1603; On The Inheritance
Tricolor Coat In Gu
nea-Pige, and ins Relation to Gallon's Law of Ancestral Heredity. Amrri
274
American Breeders Magazine
four resemble the other. The grouping of young into two classes
has no relation to sex; each group includes both sexes. In both
groups the animals are particolored, black and white, but in one
group the black areas are more extensive than in the other. In one
group the black head and back-stripe alone are black; these are called
"hooded" rats. In the other group the entire dorsal surface is black;
these are "Irish" rats. In neither group is the extent of the pigmen-
tation absolutely uniform; it varies within narrow limits, yet the
limits of the two groups are widely separated. No one would hesi-
tate for a moment as to the grouping of any individual. If each
group had been reared to maturity and had been allowed to breed
separately, it would have been found that the hooded rats bred true,
but that the Irish group produced again two sorts, Irish and hooded.
If these grandchildren had in turn been sorted out into groups and
bred separately, it would have been found that hooded rats would
again produce only hooded young, whereas the Irish grandchildren
would some of them again produce two sorts of young, Irish and
hooded, while others would produce only Irish young. See the
following diagram.
Parents
Hooded
Children
Hooded.
Grand-children
. .Hooded...
Great-grand-children
Hooded
> •• S
Hooded Hooded
Irish
Irish < Irish
f Hooded
\ Irish
Irish.
Irish
To make a long story short, this is a good example of alternative
or Mendelian inheritance. Irish is the dominant pattern, hooded
recessive. Recessives always breed true, but dominants are of two
sorts, those which breed true (called homozygous), and those which
do not breed true (called heterozygous) but also produce recessives.
The original Irish parent in this family was heterozygous. In
half its gametes the hooded condition was transmitted, in half the
Irish condition. The Irish children were of the same sort, as would
be found also part of the Irish grandchildren, but others of the Irish
grandchildren would be found to be homozygous, transmitting noth-
ing but the Irish character, and these would breed true. The note-
worthy thing in this experiment is the demonstration that hooded
and Irish patterns behave as alternative units, which may be brought
1
Castle: Biological Pkinciplbs op Animal Bkbbding 275
together in the same individual by cross breeding and then separated
out again in later generations.
If instead of crossing a hooded rat with an Irish one, as in the family
already discussed, we cross it with a wild gray one, we obtain a dif-
ferent result. The children are all gray like the wild parent, but the
grandchildren are of four sorts, gray-all-over, black-all-over, gray
hooded, and black hooded, approximately in the proportions, 9:3:3
: 1. By a cross two new color varieties have been created, the all-
black and the gray hooded. It is evident that in this case, as in the
foregoing, color-pattern is sharply alternative in inheritance, but
the wild parent was homozygous in pattern not heterozygous, so
all the children showed that same dominant pattern, and the hooded
pattern reappeared first among the grandchildren, in one-fourth of
the individuals. But among the hooded grandchildren, as well as
among the self colored, both gray individuals and black ones occur.
The same pattern occurs portrayed in different tints, gray or black.
It is evident therefore that the gray color is alternative to black in
the same way that self pattern is alternative to hooded. It is evident
further that color and pattern are wholly independent, just as I may
write the letter A either in red or in blue crayon. There is no nec-
essary relation between the letter which I write and the color in
which I write it.
Likewise the hooded, Irish, and self patterns of rats may be por-
trayed either in black or in gray. Color and pattern in rats are
therefore units independently transmitted in heredity and the vari-
eties produced by crossing are nothing but new combinations of
these same units. It is conceivable however that a new variety might
be produced by actual alteration of one of these units, that the black
for example might become blacker, or the gray might become lighter
and that the modified units might still behave as alternatives. But
the idea has somehow become prevalent among students of heredity
that such modification is impossible, that Mendelian units cannot
change. "We have got in the habit of designating unit-characters
by symbols, A, B, C, etc., and we have come to think of unit-charac-
ters as no more variable than these symbols. In reality no two
organisms are ever exactly alike, and it is doubtful whether any
unit-character is ever exactly the same in any two organisms. Some
would frankly admit this and yet maintain that what is transmitted
is in every case the same, that is that the germinal basis of a unit-
character is unchangeable, whatever may be true of its manifestation
in the individual. The theoretical consequence of such a view is
276
• American Breeders Magazine
that selection can have no effect in modifying unit-characters. This
conclusion is frankly avowed by many leading students of genetics.
To show its unsoundness, it will be sufficient in a specific case to
modify a unit-character. Many unit-characters have been so mod-
ified. I will describe a case in which the hooded pattern of rats
has been changed by selection. This work has been done with the
assistance of Dr. John C. Phillips, though others of my associates
have shared in it to a lesser extent.
Table 1. — Results of Selection for Modification of the Coat-pattern of Hooded Rats.
Description of selection.
©
u
3
M
a
I
00
s
I
§
Number of
generation.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Average grade
Average grade
Number of
parents.
2.51
offspring.
offspring.
2.05
150
2.52
1.92
471
2.73
2.51
341
3.09
2.72
444
3.33
2.90
610
3.52
3.11
861
3.56
3.20.
1,077
3.75
3.48
1.408
3.78
3.54
1,322
3.86
3.72
706
3.94
3.76
158
Total.
C4
M
a
a
*
o
00
CO
00
3
d
.5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
1.46
1.41
1.56
1.69
1.73
1.86
2.00
2.05
2.11
2.18
2.27
1.00
1.07
1.18
1.28
1.41
1.56
1.70
1.80
1.92
2.01
2.16
Total.
7,548
55
132
195
329
701
1,252
1,680
1,655
1,591
1,406
543
9,539
Several years ago the experiment was begun of selecting from a
stock of hooded rats extreme plus and minus variates and breeding
the two selections separately. The most extreme variations of the
hooded pattern at the outset are indicated roughly by grades —2
and + 3 of figure 2. At first the two series overlapped in the region
of grade 0, but soon they ceased to do so and have drawn wider and
wider apart ever since. In each generation the most extreme indi-
viduals were selected as parents. Table 1 shows the average grade
of parents and offspring in each generation. But tables 2 and 3
show the average grade of offspring of parents of a particular grade
Castle: Biological Principles op Animal Breeding 277
in each generation. Attention is called to the following facte con-
cerning the plus selection, that is, selection in the direction of black-
ness and solid color (table 2).
(1) At the outset the darkest parents we had were of grade 3,
now we have parents of grade 5J, an all-black rat being grade 6 (the
self condition). It is evident, therefore, that new grades of parents
have appeared during the experiment; the table shows that they
have come in gradually, 3 J grade parents, in the third generation;
3J grade parents, in the fourth generation; 3f grade and 4 parents,
in the fifth generation, and 4J grade parents in the seventh genera-
tion. The modification has progressed through all intermediate
stages between hooded and self, including Irish.
(2) An examination of the horizontal rows of the table shows that
in any generation the higher the grade of the parents, the higher
that of their offspring. In general therefore the somatic character
of an animal in this series is an index of its genetic character. This
makes change through selection possible.
(3) An examination of the vertical columns of the table shows
that upon the appearance of a new grade of parents, the regression
of the offspring is considerable, but with further selection it dimin-
ishes. I may add, what this table does not show : that with repeated
selection it disappears altogether and is even reversed. That is,
the lowest-grade offspring produced by selected high-grade parents
do not regress downward toward the starting point of the series,
but upward toward the mode of the parental generation. This indi-
cates that the effects of the selection are permanent, for a new mode
has been created toward which regression occurs.
In the minus selection series (table 3) the initial selection consisted
of animals between —1 and —2 in pigmentation. Fairs of —2 par-
278
American Breeders Magazine
Table 2. — Relation Between Average Grade of Parents and
a
h o
1 2
3 s
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Average grade
1.87
2.00
2.12
2.25
2.37
2.50
2.06 (37)
1 80(133)
2.32(54)
2.55 (11)
2.62
2.75 i 2.87
3.00
•
1.82 (7)
1.76(18)
1.70(46)
1.87 (20)
1.87 (8)
2.15(5)
2.11 (44)
2.63 (64)
2.12(51)
1.92 (52)
2.35 (12)
3
•P4
1.28 (56)
2.06 (21)
1.92 (45)
2.15 (17)
2.41 (23)
2.47 (59)
t*
&
2.46 (43)
2.65 (18)
3.00 (12)
2.70(47)
2.97 (37)
2.87 (21)
2.49 (71)
?
2.60 (143)
*3
2.81 (15)
a>
3.25 (2)
M
■
§
>
<
i
Total.
-I
Note. — Figures in parentheses show numbers of offspring on which the averages in each case are based.
ents occur for the first time in generation 4. Table 3 shows for this
series the relation of average of offspring to grade of parents, and
the results agree in every respect with those of table 2. Note, that:
(1) New grades of parents appear as the experiment progresses.
We how have parents pigmented only on the top and sides of the
head, and with a large white spot on the forehead. If such rats
have ever existed elsewhere at any time, I have failed to learn of
them.
(2) The higher the grade of the parents in any generation, the
higher that of their offspring.
(3) Regression grows less with repeated selection and finally changes
its direction.
What is the conclusion of the whole matter? We find that hooded,
Irish, and self patterns in rats, though Mendelizing as unit charac-
ters in relation to each other, are quantitative variations no more
stable in character than intermediate stages; that any desired inter-
mediate stage may be produced by selection alone, and when pro-
duced is fully as stable as any one of the three conditions named;
that in a similar way stages of less pigmentation than any previously
known in rats other than albinos have been produced and that there
is every reason to suppose that this reduction can be carried forward
by selection until all color is eliminated from the coat.
Selection consequently is not a mere agency for the sorting out
of unit variations (factors or genes) ; it is a creative agency by means
of which unit characters can be modified and variation can be given
Castle: Biological Principles op Animal Breeding 279
Average Grade of Offspring in Plus Selection Series.
of parents.
ber of
ring.
3.12
.3.25
3.37
3.50
3.62
3.75
3.87
4.00
4.12
4.25
4.37
a &
150
2.50 (5)
471
3.07 (10)
3.17 (6)
2.89 (64)
2.81 (138)
3.10 (143)
3.09 (131)
2.91 (8)
2.70 (23)
2.94 (145)
2.96 (123)
2.97 (160)
341
2.69 (122)
3.02 (20)
2.87 (69)
3.10 (212)
3.18 (177)
3.46 (59)
3.25 (4)
2.75 (6)
3.07 (14)
3.22 (78)
3.35 (184)
3.49 (469)
3.50 (591)
3.68 (252)
3.75 (4)
444
2.81 (114)
3.08 (64)
3.16 (181)
3.23 (289)
3.50 (484)
3.43 (244)
3.35 (8)
3.26 (80)
3.49 (90)
3.53 (238)
3.65 (424)
3.72 (307)
3.67 (88)
3.36 (7)
3.41 (14)
3.53 (15)
3.31 (64)
3.57 (45)
3.76 (107)
3.88 (55)
3.00 (3)
610
2.84 (28)
861
2.87 (28)
3.75 (3)
3.69 (22)
3.75 (4)
3.84 (8)
1,077
3.72 (60)
3.57 (7)
3.77 (32)
3.75 (7)
3.96 (8)
3.50 (3)
1,408
1,322
706
3.94 (4)
158
7.548
r
a particular direction, the only limits to its action being physiolog-
ical limits.
But someone may say, you have considered merely one sort of
unit character; grant that this is modifiable, what of the numerous
other ones which have been described? In reply I can only say that
I confine my attention to one for lack of space. I have not limited
my study to one, and I have yet to meet with a unit-character which
is not both variable and modifiable. It is only by closing one's
eyes to minor variations that one can see gametic purity in heredity.
Some recognize the occurrence of these minor variations but deny
that they are of any consequence. This is the position of de Vries
and Bateson, Johannsen, and Jennings. Bateson for example in
studying the inheritance of an extra toe in fowls recognized that it
was not always equally well developed; nevertheless he grouped
together in one class (having the extra-toe) all animals which devel-
oped even a trace of it, and placed in another class (as not possessing
it) all which failed to develop an extra-toe, even though some of the
latter actually did transmit the extra-toe. Now this is perhaps the
best one can do in sorting out the material; but it is clearly unwarrant-
able to conclude that all fowls with an extra-toe possess a unit char-
acter or gene which is wanting in all birds which do not have the
toe, or vice versa. Clearly toe-character is inherited in various grades
precisely as whiteness is in rats. Undoubtedly toe-character also
is modifiable by selection; indeed I have fully established this fact
in guinea-pigs (1906).
280
American Breeders Magazine
Table 3. — Relation Between Average Grade of Parents and
Number of
generation.
Average grade
1.12
1.25
1.37
1.50
1.62
1.75
1.87
m
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
S
9
10
11
1.34 (8)
1.17 (17)
1.05 (20)
1.56 (4)
0.85 (31)
1.45 (5)
1.03 (28)
1.16 (29)
1.50 (51)
1.37 (6)
1.11 (37)
1.31 (28)
1.31 (59)
1.25 (53)
1.34 (24)
1.05 (10)
I
J"
1.05 (12)*
0.85 (5)
0.67 (3)
1.22 (48)
1.36 (40)
1.35 (54)
1.46 (94)
1.55 (5)
1.09 (27)
1.26 (63)
1.34 (93)
1.30 (262)
1.49 (244)
1.67 (32)
1.10 (12)
1.96 (3)
1.18 (95)
*8
1.64 (143)
o
1.59 (502)
1.65 (330)
1.84 (19)
i
9
<
Total
•Figures In parentheses show numbers of offspring on which the averages in each case are based.
I therefore regard as unsubstantiated the genotype conception
of heredity in which unit-characters are regarded as indestructible
and unmodifiable entities. Organisms are not devoid of variability;
neither are the unit-characters which they manifest devoid of varia-
bility, nor yet is the germinal basis of such unit-characters devoid of
variability. Unit-characters may arise gradually as the result of
repeated selection in a particular direction.
I have dwelt thus at some length upon this question because of
its theoretical and practical importance. If unit-characters are im-
mutable, then straight selection is a waste of time, and the only
procedure for the breeder well worth while is to hybridize and thus
seek new combinations of unit-characters. This view has been repeat-
edly presented in recent years, but has met with scant favor at the
hands of experienced animal breeders.
Experienced breeders, to be sure, are not qualified to pass final
judgment on a theoretical question, but a theory which will not
work out in practice needs careful scrutiny; there is surely something
wrong with it. If, however, unit-characters are modifiable, then
selection is of value not only in the isolation of particular combina-
tions of units, but also in the improvement of the units themselves.
Mendel's law, in its broad general features, does stand the test
of practice. It represents a fundamental general law of heredity.
Many of the characteristics of animals and plants are transmitted
substantially as units and are therefore capable of recombination in
the form of new varieties through the agency of crossing. By apply-
Castle: Biological Principles op Animal Breeding 281
Average Grade of Offspring in Minus Selection Series.
of parents.
1 «
If
2
2.12
2.25
2.37
2.50
2.62
2 75
2.87
55
132
195
1.36 (9)
329
1.52 (109)
1.80 (5)
1.52 (85)
1.74 (260)
1.85 (377) -
1.93 (403)
2.00 (469)
2.14 (149)
*
701
1.58 (283)
1.82 (11)
1.88 (15)
1.85 (17)
2.07 (53)
2.13 (67)
2.24 (45)
1,252
1.72 (969)
1.93 (41)
1.87 (36)
1.93 (148)
2.04 (197)
2.15 (144)
1.62 (4)
1.87 (30)
1.91 (175)
2.06 (104)
2.18 (117)
2.28 (18)
1.66 (6)
1.87 (6)
1,680
1.78 (1170)
1,655
1.90 (811)
1,591
1.95 (473)
2.08 (48)
2.16 (49)
2.09 (19)
1.97 (27)
2.33 (16)
2.19 .(20)
1.95 (5)
1,406
543
9,539
ing Mendel's law to specific cases one is able to predict with a con-
siderable degree of accuracy what combinations will result from a
particular cross and in what proportions these will be produced.
Such a practical test is the best possible evidence of the correctness
of a theory. Mendel's law throws light on each of the generaliza-
tions of empirical animal breeding previously enumerated:
It throws light on those recognized exceptions to the generaliza-
tion that like begets like, and shows under what circumstances those
exceptions are to be expected.
It shows why and when pedigree counts, and under what circum-
stances a knowledge of pedigree is of no consequence whatever.
It shows why inbreeding brings uniformity of type, and cross-
breeding destroys it.
Mendel's law is then a first step toward the establishment of a
science of animal breeding. But it is only a first step on a long and
weary road, and we must be careful not to misinterpret or misapply
it. Otherwise we are liable to be turned aside from the direct road
of progress. We must not, for example, conclude on insufficient
evidence that unit-characters possess an immutability which organ-
isms do not possess. It is the purpose of this paper to insist on this .
point. Further we are jiot yet warranted in concluding that all
inheritance is unit-character inheritance. A too sweeping general-
ization of this sort may also lead us astray. Let us proceed with
enthusiasm, but with caution, noting well our landmarks.
The practical utility of Mendel's law is much greater to the plant
282 American Breeders Magazine
breeder than to the animal breeder, because the plant-breeder is
concerned largely with the production of a very few first generation
or second generation hybrids of merit, which are then multiplied
indefinitely by asexual means or self fertilization. In the case of
the domesticated animals such methods of multiplication are impos-
sible. Every individual produced has two parents, and purity of
race in the parents is indispensable to uniformity of type in the
progeny.
As a theoretical foundation principle Mendel's law is equally val-
uable to animal breeders and to plant breeders.
HORSES AND HORSE BREEDING*
H. K. Bush-Brown
Washington, D. C.
In a former article published in the American Breeders Magazine,
I suggested that the best race horses, both trotters and runners, be
studied anatomically in their living active form, and from the skeleton
after death, as a means of mathematically determining what differ-
ences there are in structure. This would enable us to not only estab-
lish a method of defining types but also to ascertain which structural
propositions are the most favorable to speed and endurance, and in
what way the runner differs from the trotter. Every horseman recog-
nizes the differences of proportion at a glance and by instinct, but
so far as I know they have not been reduced to mathematical and
comparable terms.
• No one will question that the separate types of horses which we
breed and keep for specific purposes, are the results of selective breed-
ing, and that the differences between breeds are largely a matter of
differences in the proportions of the structure of the skeleton. And
this suggests the need of an accurate and reliable method of measur-
ing the bodies of individuals, which will make full allowance for
variations in size, so that not only large and small individuals of
the same breed may become comparable, but also individuals belong-
ing to different breeds, and even the same individual in different
stages of growth. Such a method must clearly be based upon a
unit common to all individuals, and upon a comparison of propor-
tions rather than upon absolute measurements.
a This Is the second article of the aeries on Horses and Horse-Breeding begun by the author In
American Breeders Magazine, vol. 11, no. 2, and no. 3.
Bush-Brown: Horses and Horse Breeding
283
I therefore submit to the consideration of animal breeders a system
which I have devised after much study and experimentation. It
is as follows:
The height of the horse at the withers is divided into three equal
parts denominated "heads"; in order to facilitate closer measure-
-4
Si
II
GO
ments the "head" is divided into four further parts, called quarters;
each quarter is divided into six parts called minims. In the diagrams
Figures 1 to 5 these denominations are abbreviated H for "head;"
N for "quarter" and M for "minim." By this scale, no matter what
284
American Breeders Magazine
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Bush-Brown: Horses and Horse Breeding
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American Breeders Magazine
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288 American Breeders Magazine
size the individual is, his own height determines the unit of his
measure. By setting down all the actual proportion measurements,
on this scale, an exact record of the form and structural peculiarities
of an animal may be obtained which may be available for comparing
other individuals, whether living or dead. With help of those propor-
tion measurements a sculptor or painter can reproduce an exact
form of some one individual horse, in drawing or painting or in
model in any size.
A system of absolute measurements is of no value whatever when
we come to compare individuals of different sizes, even within the
same breed. Similarly, a comparative measurement based upon the
circumference of an animal, as unit, is of little value. On the other
hand, by means of the system of measuring as outlined above, the
exact outline, as presented to the eye from any given point of view,
can be reproduced.
By determining what constitutes the perfect type of Thorough-
bred, Morgan, Trotter, Percheron or other breed whatsoever, each
horse in his own type, can be measured and standards of propor-
tion be established for that type. If the breeders would work this
out on an agreed system, the judges in a show ring would have an
exact mathematical test to assist their judgment as formed by visual
comparison and experience.
To illustrate the manner of using this method, the proportion-
measurements of "Woolsey" are given in Figure 1. Woolsey was
an old time trotting sire, the full brother of Sunol.
For purposes of comparing breeds, I add the measurements of
the imported Arab, Leopard, presented to General Grant by the
Sultan of Turkey, Figure 2; Ethan Allen 3d, a typical Morgan,
Figure 3; Hons Fleur an imported Norman, Figure 4, and also of
Red Lion, Figure 5, a cross bred son of the latter from a thorough-
bred dam.
The same system of measuring may be applied to cattle, but a
cow's body does not fill a square as does a horse; so instead of taking
the height of the cow at the withers it is necessary to take the length
from the front of the shoulder to the end rump bone or illium, and
divide this length into three and this into quarters and minims the
same as for the horse. With this scale the cow will be found to be
as harmoniously proportioned as the horse, and to be one-half a
head lower at the withers than the horse.
I am inclined to believe that the reason why the large number of
records of measurements of individual cows, massed in the herd
Love: Comparisons of Yield and Selections in Oats 289
books of the Holstein Friesian Association have been difficult to digest
and to utilize for statistical work, was that all these measurements
were absolute and therefore not comparable except in averages com-
prising large numbers of cows. This system of notation of propor-
tions applied to a large, number of cows would furnish us most exact
data on the question of form and function, and would enable us to
determine whether, and if so in what particular, of form of physical
conformation or of type the 14 pound cow differs from the 20, 25 and
30 pound cow. All measurements, so far made on growing cattle
from calfhood to maturity, have given no positive results because the
data concerning even the same individuals were not comparable.
With this scale standard types of cattle can be established by
averages or otherwise the same as has been suggested for horses. I
have measured the stuffed specimen of a giraffe and find that the
length of his head bears the same relation. to the length of his body
as is found in the horse. It would be interesting to know to how
many mammals this system of measuring can be made to apply.
COMPARISONS OF YIELD BETWEEN HYBRIDS
AND SELECTIONS IN OATS a
Dr. H. H. Love
Ithaca, New York
The purpose of this paper is to set forth the results of some attempts
to improve the oat crop by selection and hybridization. This work
has been under way at the Cornell Experiment Station for the past
five years. The hybrids and selections were made by Mr. J. B.
Norton, of the United States Department of Agriculture. The
preliminary work was done in Illinois but on accepting a position in
the Plant-Breeding Department of the Cornell Agricultural College,
Mr. Norton brought a set of the hybrids and selections to New York.
After a year at Cornell Mr. Norton returned to the Bureau of Plant
Industry and the testing of the hybrids and selections has been left
for others to do. The writer has had charge of the work for the past
four years.
The work originally consisted in planting rows, a rod in length,
of the different strains and repeating the series on a different type of
soil. Later, however, the different strains were planted in rod-rows
a Paper No. 31, Department of Plant-Breeding, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
290
American Breeders Magazine
and the rows repeated a number of times. The rod-row system is
used by this department for all small grain work. Some of our
results were furnished Dr. T. L. Lyon, of this Station, to compare
with some plat tests and it was found that the rod-row repeated a
number of times is apt to be more nearly correct than a large plat
repeated only once.
The following varieties and combinations were represented in the
hybrids and selections tested:
Series.
Hybrids.
Series.
Selections.
27
I Garten's Tartar King X Clydesdale
62
Sixty Day
31
, Burt (Early White) X Texas Red Rust-
63
Burt (Extra Early)
proof
; 120
Silver Mine (Great Dakota)
32
Burt (Early White) X Early Champion
1 123
Welcome
34
Burt (Early White) X 8lxty Day
1 132
i Sixty Day
42
Asia Minor Rustproof (3676) X Clydes-
1 137
j Early Champion
dale
138
| Early Champion (Prosperity)
49
Sixty Day X Clydesdale
5938
| Sixty Day
50
Sixty Day X Probsteler
,
l
The strains showing the highest yield in 1907 and 1908 were. sown
in a larger number of rows in 1909, in order to give them a fairer test.
These strains were also repeated in 1910 and 1911. In the following
table the ten best selections and hybrids are shown with their average
yields for the three years. This table includes only strains which
have been tested 5 to 8 times in 1909, 8 to 13 times in 1910 and from
15 to 21 times in 1911.
Three year average, 1909 to 1911.
Hybrids.
!
i
Average yield '
bushel per acre.
51.7
51.8
52.1
52.4
53.1
53.6
54.0
54.3
56.0
62.1
Selections.
Pedigree No.
l
Pedigree No.
Average yield
bushel per acre.
31al-16-l
132-2
47.3
34al-24
62-11-17-1
49.4
49a2-18
63-1-4
62-11-6-3
49.5
49al-27-l
51 1
50al-22
62-IT-6-2
51.1
49a2-13
62-11-18-1-1
54-5
49a2-20
5938-1
123-5
i 120-9
i 62-11-18-3
54.6
49a2-22
57.3
50al-10
34al-ll-2
57.7
58.6
*
Average '
54.0
53 1
This shows an average yield of 54 bushels for the hybrids and 53.1
bushels for the selections. The highest yielding strain for the three
Love: Comparisons of Yield and Selections in Oats 291
years is a hybrid, while the three strains ranking next in order are
selections.
It seemed desirable to know how these new sorts would compare
with some of the well known commercial varieties and such a test
was begun in 1910 and continued in 191 1 . The seed of the commercial
varieties was obtained from different seed houses. The hybrids and
selections, together with the commercial varieties were sown in rod-
rows and these rows repeated usually 21 times. The results for the
ten best hybrids and ten best selections, together with the results for
the 8 best commercial varieties, are shown in the following table:
Two year average, 1910 and 1911.
Hybrids.
Pedigree
> No.
Average
yield bushel
per acre.
49a2-13
55.5
34al-32-l
56.0
34al-28-2
56.9
49a2-16-10
57.4
49a2-18
57.9
50al-10
58.3
50al-22
59.6
27al-31
60.3
49a2-20
61.7
34al-ll-2
66.5
.
Average .
59.0
Selection.
Pedigree No.
Average
yield bushel
per acre.
62-II-17-1..
53.0
5938-1 :
53.5
63-1-4
54.2
62-II-6-3
54.9
62-II-6-2
55.0
33al-15
56.0
120-9
62.3
123-5
62.6
62-II-18-3
64.3
62-II-18-1-1
65.1
58.1
Varieties.
Average
Name
yield bushel
per acre.
Black Tartarian...
40.7
Golden Giant Side
42.3
White Tartar King
45.5
47.8
Swedish Select
52.0
Danish Island
54.0
Silver Mine
61.4
Lincoln
62.4
Average
508
This table shows an average yield for the hybrids of 59 bushels
per acre, for the selections 58.1 bushels per acre, and for the eight best
varieties 50.8 bushels per acre. The analysis of this data also brings
out the value of certain classes of hybrids and selections and the value
of certain varieties, as a basis on which to start improvement.
Among the 10 best hybrids, 4 are from series 49, 3 from series 34,
and 2 from series 50. Series 49, as is shown in table, is a cross between
Sixty Day and Clydesdale; series 34 is a cross between Burt (Early
White) and Sixty Day; and series 50 is a cross between Sixty Day and
Probsteier. Thus 9 of the best hybrids have Sixty Day as one of the
parents which shows the value of this variety in these combinations.
This variety also shows its value in the selections, for 6 of the 10 best
selections are from this variety. No doubt for other localities and
other environments there will be found certain other varieties which
will be just as valuable for selection work or hybridization. Another
point of interest is whether the hybrids or selections prove themselves
292 American Breeders Magazine
the better yielders. Considering the 10 best hybrids and selections
in each case, the averages for 1909 and 1910 favor the hybrids, while
for 1911 the conditions are reversed. The three-year averages and
the two-year averages show for the 10 best an advantage for the
hybrids of about one bushel in each case. In each year, however,
the best selection yields better than the best hybrids from 1.3 to 5.9
bushels per acre, yet the three-year and the two-year averages give
respectively an advantage of 3.5 and 1.4 bushels to the best hybrid
over the best selection. The same hybrid is best in the three-year
and in the two-year averages, while the best selection in the three-
year average is second best in the two-year average.
In 1907 the tests of all hybrids gave an average of 49.19 bushels
per acre, while the average of all straight selections gave a yield of
52.64 bushels per acre. In 1908 the calculated average yield per
acre of all hybrids was 56.2 bushels and of all straight selections 48
bushels. In 1909 the average yield of all hybrids was 33.6 bushels
per acre, while that of all straight selections was 26.9 bushels per
acre. For 1910 the average yield of all hybrids was 65.9 bushels
per acre, while that of all selections was 54.2 bushels per acre. For
1911 the average yield of all hybrids was 45.8 bushels per acre, of all
selections 48.7 bushels per acre. The average for the five years was
for the hybrids 50.14 bushels per acre and for the selections 46.09
bushels per acre. The average for the five years shows that the
hybrids gave a higher yield than the selections and seems to indicate
that as far as yield is concerned the hybrids are better, on the average,
than the selections.
The data thus far obtained furnishes considerable evidence on the
value of different classes of hybrids. It would seem that the most
promising combinations of those tested are the Burt crossed with
Texas Rustproof, Burt crossed with Sixty Day, and Sixty Day crossed
with Extra Early Burt. These conclusions cannot be taken as abso-
lute, as other combinations than those tested might turn out more
promising.
These results show the possibilities of improving the oat crop by
the selection of good plants from a variety or by the combination
through hybridization of the desirable qualities of different varieties
and thus obtaining a strain of superior value, and it is hoped this
article will create sufficient interest to induce plant breeders and care-
ful grain growers to follow this line of work.
THE SIZE OF THE SEED PLANTED AND THE
FERTILITY OF THE PLANT PRODUCED
J. Arthur Harris
Cold Spring Harbor ', Long Island, New York
In the practical growing of animals and plants both breeding and
feeding are factors of great significance. In our enthusiasm over the
possibilities of the newer methods in genetics, we are apt to forget
that there must be limits to the improvements of the innate racial
qualities which can be attained by hybridization or selection. These
limits once reached, we are thrown back upon refinements in culture
and feeding — upon the physiology of the individual as contrasted with
the germinal constitution of the race — for further margins of improve-
ment.
For these reasons, I have always planned my breeding experiments
to obtain incidentally as much information as possible on the strictly
physiological factors influencing yield. Such factors are, for example,
the influence of the environment of the parent plants furnishing the
seed planted* upon the characteristics of the offspring, the influence
of the size of the seed planted, etc.
The purpose of this note is merely to explain a diagram illustrating
the importance of one of these physiological factors, namely, the
weight of the seed planted; in determining yield.
The data for the diagram are drawn from twenty experimental
crops of garden beans, involving Navy, White Flageolet and Ne Plus
Ultra, represented by many thousands of individuals. The scale
at the bottom shows the range of variation, of the weight of the seed
planted, in units of 0.025 gram. b The vertical scale on the left hand
side shows the mean number of pods per plant. The height (on the
latter scale at the left of the diagram) at which the twenty sloping
lines cut the ordinates (vertical lines) erected on the weight classes,
gives the smoothed mean number of pods per plant for that weight
of seed.
The actual means are of course very irregular, since the bean plant
is very sensitive to its environment, for in ordinary field cultures,
uniform conditions cannot be given. Moreover, exact agreements of
the empirical and theoretical means are never secured because of the
* See "A First Study of the Influence of the Starvation of the Ascendants upon the Characteristics
of the Descendants. I-II." American Naturalist, vol. 46, pp. 313-343, 656-674, 1912.
b That is, class 3 - 0.050 to 0.075, or a mean of 0.0625; olass 4 - 0.075 to 0.100; class 5 - 0.100 to
0. 125; class 24 - 0.575 to 0.600.
293
294
American Breeders Magazine
errors of sampling common to all statistics. Of course, the lines as
given here are to be looked upon merely as a conventionalized repre-
sentation of the increase in mean number of pods per plant associated
with an increase in the weight of the seed planted. But, considering
the difficulties inherent in the materials, they are very accurate
conventions.
The twenty series not only represent three distinct varieties but
were grown under widely varying conditions and show in consequence
MayAf offset/ jo fain ted.
r Diagram Illustrating Influence of Weight of Seed upon the Yield
i
great differences in the slope of the lines which express in concrete
terms the mean number of pods per plant. Yet, in every case there
is a conspicuous gain by the planting of heavier seeds.
Considerable attention has already been given by experiment sta-
tion workers to the question of light and heavy seed, with the general
Full details are given in a paper in vol. ix, part I of Biometrika: "On the Relationship Between
the Weight of the Seed Planted and the Characters of the Plant Produced. I."
Funk: Ten Yeabs of Corn Breeding 295
result that the heavier seed gives the heavier yield. But generally,
the lighter seeds have been separated by fanning and in many cases
included blighted or shrivelled seeds. Here all seeds were perfect,
as far as could be determined by individual examination.
The practicability of seed grading depends entirely upon the ratio
of the cost to the returns from the increase in yield thus secured.
These are problems which practical men must figure out. The pur-
pose of this note will have been fulfilled if it suggests to the breeder
the importance of planning his work so as to take more fully into
account than is generally done, the purely physiological factors.
TEN YEARS OF CORN BREEDING
Eugene D. Funk
Shirley, Illinois
That little kernel, corn, capable of springing forth into a beautiful
living plant and growing to a height of twelve or more feet within the
short period of ninety days, and what is greater still, to be able to
reproduce itself over 1,000 fold during one short season, surely we
ought to talk more about it, to study its characteristics and habits
until we have learned many things yet unthought of. The farmer
of the corn belt has scarcely begun to realize the possibilities and neces-
sities that lie before him in order to meet the future demands for corn.
No two ears of corn are exactly alike, yet it is found that within
varieties there exist certain strains or families. Breeding corn is
simply carrying out nature's own methods, but in addition one must
keep a record of each individual plant or set of plants resulting from
certain ears. By selection we are enabled to increase certain desir-
able qualities and thus we bring about the tendency of each succeed-
ing generation to become more uniform and fixed in its certainty to
reproduce these qualities.
What the ear-Unrow method reveals. — On planting the kernels of
corn from a given mother-ear in a single row, that row of progeny
will invariably have a certain degree of individuality throughout the
season and show a contrast with other rows similarly planted. It may
be that this particular row will germinate almost perfectly, out-
grow the neighboring rows completely and at gathering time having
ears of uniform size and few nubbins outyield all others in the field.
Yet the selection of the original ears for planting may have been made
with the greatest care to have them all as nearly uniform as possible.
Fin. 1— Ruphibkntitivk Simflbi or Seed Conn Selected fob Planting in thb Yubs
1901 TO 100*
Learning mm representing the seed selected for plan ting on about 160 acres. Each of the ten-ear lota,
ahown Id the Illustrations, figures 1 to 3, represents the seed selected for planting la their respective
years and so these are not the tan beet or the ten poorest ears, but as nearly as possible a true repre-
sentation of the whole.
In order to obtain the very beat seed that could be found from the crop of 1901. Prof. P. G. Holden
and Dwlght Funk visited several of ths best corn breeders of that time to obtain seed ears, and the
■ample marked 1901 shows this corn. The eleven samples show the Improvement which has been
wrought from year to year by selection.
It would not be fair to say, concerning the Increase In yield, that the 82-bushel crop of 1903 and the
Si-bushel crop of 1911 la a correct comparison because the soil used was better and more fertile in 191 1.
Funk: Ten Yeaks op Cobn Breeding 297
The treatment through the season for each row may be identically
the same and the chances for any variation in fertility of the soil
reduced to the minimum. The very next row to this vigorous and
high yielding row of com may represent the opposite extreme, poor
germination, weakly, perhaps of a pale green color through the season
and giving a very small yield. Notes are taken of these different
rows of corn during the growing season. Previous to the time of
pollenization all tassels of weak and undesirable stalks are removed
to prevent the pollen from the inferior stalks fertilizing the more vigor-
ous plants. All ears and rows bear individual numbers which are
recorded in a book especially prepared for this purpose. Each row
is husked separately and the corn weighed. By this means we secure
the yield per acre of the progeny of each mother ear.
From the rows yielding at the highest rate per acre, thus showing
their mother ear to have the highest producing power, we save the
best corn for the next year's breeding plot. These ears are selected
from hills which contain three stalks in order that each ear selected
may have been grown under the same conditions. From these same
best rows, seed is also saved for larger fields of from five to ten acres,
which we call multiplying plots, the yields of which are carefully
noted.
Making the performance record. — The yields, first of the mother
plants, then of the multiplying plot and then the larger fields become
the performance record of the strain of corn, the same as the individual
track record of his progeny becomes the record of the trotting horse.
The results for the first few generations, while we may have large
yield composed of all sorts and sizes of ears— hybrids from many
hundreds of other plants — we find comparatively few ears equalling
or excelling the mother ear. But these are the ears selected for
future propagation and improvement and after the type is once fixed,
we may expect a reasonable uniformity in the progeny of succeeding
generations. Corn breeding is not necessarily the getting of typical
beauty of ears, or perhaps a few ears and the rest nubbins, but it is to
produce corn that will increase an average yield of 28 or 29 bushels
per acre to an amount that will justify the labor and expense and
that farmers have a right to hope for.
Yield per acre is the unit, the all essential point in which the farmer
is most interested. The score card, the corn shows and the competi-
tive corn judging are all good and have their place in awakening the
interest to better and more profitable corn raising. The commercial
corn breeder should not allow himself to become too greatly absorbed
American Breeders Magazine
D COBJt StLECtID FOB Plaktino [H TBE YltB
Funk: Ten Years op Corn Breeding 299
in ideal ears, unless these can show for themselves by authenticated
records prepotent powers in reproduction. Dr. H. J. Webber, of
Cornell University, advises in plant breeding to stick closely to the
important characteristics and not to give weight to features not of
practical value. Apparent but slight deformities will eventually
take care of themselves, or may be improved. Personal experience
has abundantly proven this to us, for some of our highest yielding
Pig. 3— Rephebbntatite Samples or Seed Corn fob Planting in the Ye aba 1909 to 19! 1
strains of com today are anything but ideal ears from the standpoint
of the score card.
Theoretically a mother ear should be cylindrical, with well filled
tip and butt, wedge-shaped kernels close together at both crown and
next to the cob. The kernels should be of as nearly uniform size as
possible in order that the planter may drop a given number of grains
I!
1 1
■3
I
Funk: Ten Years of Corn Breeding 301
in each hill, thus securing an even and perfect stand of corn. But
in front of all this, there must be a performance record. In other
words, a pedigree of what the ancestors of this strain of corn have
been capable of doing. Seed coming from ordinary looking ears but
possessing such strains of inherent power as to produce a medium size
ear on a maximum number of stalks, is certainly far superior for the
farmer to plant than the finest show corn that was ever at a corn
show which has been selected merely from the point of beauty and
the ideal score card. This is not saying that nothing can be accom-
plished by physical selection alone, and the planting of seed from good,
symmetrical ears. A great deal can be accomplished both in the
improvement of type and to certain extent in yield.
Now comes the most interesting point. While we have maintained
this selection for type and uniformity, in our breeding plots for high-
est yields, an entirely different type of the same variety of corn has
gradually become prominent. Here the selection is largely governed
by the predominating type of the seed corn gathered from the highest
yielding rows and by comparison with the type of the mother ear.
After a selection of ten ears from some of our highest yielding strains
of Funk's Gold Standard Learning and Funk's Yellow Dent, it is
most striking to observe, that both varieties show a tendency toward
the same type and neither of them conform to the present score card
or our arbitrary selection of type for a perfect ear. In general the
increase has been about fifteen bushels to the acre. Several hundred
farmers, who have planted this seed in practically all of the corn
growing sections of the world, agree that the increase in yield over the
ordinary selection by the average farmer is from five to twenty bushels
and in many cases more per acre. This compares favorably with
our check plots. A series of experiments showed that six years out
of seven the smooth type of corn made the highest yield, and in
another case the same was true five out of seven times.
I wish it were otherwise and that we could discover some relation
of idealism tcr high yield. I anticipate the question that if like pro-
duces like why should we not be able to reproduce a lot of fancy and
high scoring ears? We may produce them, but we have to use a some-
what different method, and in so doing we fail to get the largest yield.
A great many farmers are making a mistake in demanding too large
an ear for a seed ear. This throws the corn too late in maturing,
even during an ordinary fall a large proportion of the stalks with
large ears are caught by the frost; large ears are not really necessary
for a bumper crop of corn. I have a report of an average of 106.8
302 Amebican Breedebs Magazine
bushels per acre of corn grown in Minnesota, with Minnesota No. 13
seed. And with what we would consider a nubbin in Illinois, Jerry-
Moore of South Carolina grew 228 bushels on an acre none of the
ears that he planted measured over 8| to 9 inches in length. Corn
breeders should strive for a medium sized ear on a maximum number
of stalks, and then they can grow all the corn that the f ertility in the
soil will allow.
PEDAGOGICS OF GENETICS
The teaching of the science of heredity and breeding, and the
training of experts in plant and animal breeding and in eugenics, is
rapidly coming into our system of education. The value of a study
which peculiarly combines cultural with vocational values appeals to
the student and will bring this subject rapidly into demand, as will
also its interest as a phase of biology, which fascinates. Its vital
relation to the economic production of farm products and therefore
its relation to the cost of living, will make it attractive to students
pursuing general and vocational courses not concerned primarily with
genetics. Classes in genetics in our colleges and universities will be
especially interesting and vital for those preparing for vocations which
relate to eusthenic betterments.
Those universities and colleges which can employ special teachers
have here a most unique opportunity to take the lead and place this
subject upon a basis at once scientific, pedagogic proper and prac-
tical. The American Breeders Association appeals to these insti-
tutions to take on this important work much more rapidly. This
Association took the lead in bringing the subject of eugenics under
the guidance of a group of scientific investigators. Almost before
we ealized that it could be so the subject had passed into the stage of
teaching and of propaganda. No small group of investigators can
alone cope with these phases of the subject. The educators, physi-
cians, preachers and philanthropists are now needed to do their part.
Those who would lead must study the available literature.
Philanthropists who contemplate giving money to colleges and
universities could do no better than to dedicate generous sums to the
endowments of chairs of genetics. Legislative bodies should make
substantial appropriations to their state agricultural colleges and
state universities to establish and liberally sustain chairs of genetics.
EDITORIALS
GENETICS— A FIELD FOR THE SCIENTIFIC PHILANTHROPIST
When the American Breeders Association was organized nearly
ten years ago it was in response chiefly to a need that was felt for
conference among breeders and scientists, and to give stimulus to
research work in the science of heredity and the art of breeding.
Subsequent events, as for instance the wonderful and exceedingly
popular work of a number of plant breeders, and the oncoming Men-
delian and DeVriesian thought, have made of genetics a remarkably
practical, productive science. The recent and seemingly permanent
rise in the cost of living, which is giving economists and legislators
so much concern, has served to make immensely important and vital
the increasing of food production through the developing of better
breeds and varieties. The fact that one-half of the increased food
production of whatever kind will eventually come through the use
of better bred varieties of plants, cereals, fruits, and animals makes
this matter of genetics or breeding the biggest proposition in agri-
culture, after soil conservation.
The work of the American Breeders Association has been carried
on by a few sincere and devoted individuals, with such means as
were raised by a membership consisting of scientists, practical breeders
of plants and animals, of physicians, sociologists, social workers,
ministers, officers of eleemosynary institutions, and men and women
of affairs, all alert and interested. Through their efforts a new world
of research has been opened. But what has so far been done, though
a mere beginning, has afforded a glimpse of amazing possibilities.
With these developments of a decade, the American Breeders Associa-
tion has grown to an organization equipped with effective methods
to attack some of the most vital problems facing the race in its prog-
ress. The Association has attracted a large number of scientists
of other countries, and seems in a fair way to become international in
scope.
The influence of the Association has made itself felt in numerous
other ways. The plant breeder, a name and a man theretofore un-
known, has come into public prominence; colleges and universities
are establishing chairs of genetics; eugenics and genetic societies are
being organized at intellectual centers; experiment stations are in-
creasingly giving attention to the subject of experimental breeding;
states, as Minnesota and New York, are organizing great establish-
303
304 American Breeders Magazine
ments for the breeding of their field crops; the former State has a
farm for the specific purpose of breeding and originating fruit varieties.
All this work has been received by the public with an open-mihded-
ness bordering on avidity. Its influence has gone forward so rapidly
that it is in a fair way to overtake and swamp us because of our inade-
quate means of taking care of the new openings and demands. Hav-
ing originated the movement, the Association feels the responsibility
of directing it, that it may proceed along a sound and useful course,
and to save it from falling into the hands of quacks, impostors, and
half-baked scientists.
Several circumstances have favored us in the promotion of this
educational propaganda in genetics, eugenics, animal breeding, and
plant breeding. Chief among these is the greater public appreciation
of out-door life, of nature and nature study. Recent years have
seen the beginning of the "back, to the land" movement among
the more virile elements of the race; a keen and active interest in
matters pertaining to farming and to country life is almost univer-
sal. Numerous books and magazine articles, the daily press, and
even the stage, have drawn public interest to the questions of genetic
race culture, and of the improvement of the heredity of plant and
animal life in an advanced and permanent agriculture. These
matters have all become very vital parts of our civilization and are
becoming more so daily, as increasing population and greater complex-
ity df civilization make us' more dependent upon an intensive, highly
specialized, and scientific agriculture.
So much for the aims and the work of the American Breeders Asso-
ciation. It has passed through the struggle of becoming an institution.
It has brought together the genetic scientists and breeders. It has
brought into the closest cooperative relations the breeders of plants,
the breeders of animals, and those interested in eugenics. By a quiet
policy of stating the results of research in eugenics it has overcome
the opposition of an at first hostile press and of indifferent public
opinion. It has thus been a powerful factor in compelling a respectful
hearing for the science of eugenics and of genetics in general. It is
recognized as already having rendered a large service, and its mem-
bers believe it has further large and important functions to perform.
Its scientific and philanthropic status is almost ideal. It is now ready
for two things which alone can enable it to lead in the large service
before it:
It needs endowment for its research work and it needs many more
members as bearers of its educational work.
Editorials 305
The man of research, the scientist, is on trial and is successfully
demonstrating his usefulness. It is a characteristic of our modern
science, that it fully recognizes its own importance. We are living
in a time in which science is more and more applied to the affairs of
man and to problems of public welfare. Persons with means could
not find a more admirable group of people with whom to cooperate
in putting forward enduring constructive work than the men and
women of this Association. It is now so thoroughly organized and
seasoned as to its field, its specific problems, and its methods, that
its work should be recognized by persons who wish to invest money
in truly vital service. In these days of large fortunes men and women
seek to give in such manner that some large and permanent purpose is
served which will do the most for human welfare and uplift. Scientific
philanthropy has taken the place of scattered, indiscriminate charity.
Public and private money has been forthcoming from various
sources for practical extension work in teaching, on a nation-wide
scale, the facts of soil conservation and conservation of soil fertility.
But owing to the peculiarity of research work in genetics and eugenics,
the financial results are not always immediately in view, and in con-
sequence public money is not usually so generously appropriated.
Thus, much of the burden is borne by private individuals or the needed
work is not done. Strange to say, the large live stock and herd book
associations do not appropriate any money for research work. And in
regard to that branch of genetics which concerns itself with eugenics,
practically all research and educational work has been done under
private agencies and with limited funds. Few as yet view eugenics
in its broader aspect, namely; as a means of conserving the race
through the preservation of family stocks of genius and leadership
and exceptional ability, and the discovery and encouragement of
capable and prepotent blood lines.
There is a much closer connection between genetics and the large
social and public questions than the superficial student is aware of.
The scientists who are doing research work in eugenics need the sup-
port of those who are in touch with the problems of charity and correc-
tion; and these, in equal measure, need to be in touch with those who
are rapidly building up the science of eugenics. We have no public
interest in which there is greater need of common sense based on expe-
rience and research.
It should appeal to each member of the Association as a personal
duty to bring the work of this Association to the attention of his
friends, particularly to the attention of persons who are in position
306 American Breeders Magazine
to assist this work with funds. There are hundreds of persons of
wealth in this country who would be glad of an opportunity to ad-
vance a cause racially so important if only the facts in the matter
were brought to their attention. The Association is officially in
touch with only a comparatively small number of these people.
Through its members it may reach many thousands. Let then each
member feel it his personal duty to secure the interest and support of
persons who are in position to endow the Association with large funds
for carrying forward its work.
It is to be earnestly hoped that the next important foundation of
historical note in scientific philanthropy will be made by some per-
son or group of persons, to place genetics and eugenics in position to
work out freely and in the fullest measure their logical tasks. Here
is a work whose importance overshadows almost all else in human
affairs, because it is basic of all permanent betterments; it concerns
the race in its widest meaning and has to do with its very soul and
life blood. From the endowment of this institution, the American
Breeders Association, which is at once one of research and education,
would date a period whose influence would give a permanent and new
direction to the course of human affairs.
EUGENICS AT THE HYGIENE AND DEMOGRAPHY CONGRESS
That eugenics and sex hygiene have suddenly sprung into promi-
nence was shown during three weeks in September at the International
Congress on Hygiene and Demography in Washington. In a great
exhibit, held in connection with the Congress in the Red Cross build-
ing, these subjects held a leading place. The officers of the National
Federation of Sex Hygiene and of the Eugenics Section of the Ameri-
can Breeders Association boldly and very successfully carried on a
campaign of education and publicity. At least, the tens of thousands
of visitors at the exhibition and delegates to the Congress on Hygiene
and Demography, and the people of Washington, have seriously
accepted at face value the proposition that sex and eugenics matters
are up for solution by scientific and educational methods.
The truly astounding fact about the entire eugenics and sex hygiene
exhibit is that almost no controversy was aroused. The facts of
sex diseases were driven home by means of graphic charts and read-
ing charts and even by photographs and models in a most effective
but unobjectionable way. That the annual cost of immorality and
social diseases approximates three billion dollars out of a total of
Editorials 307
thirty-four billion dollars, of our national production, makes one
shudder. We are worse than playing with race making, we are riot-
ing with nascent souls. A million and a quarter of infected women,
who rightly blame men for their downfall, infect millions of men and
through them probably millions of unblamable wives. Race morality
and race hygiene are our greatest immediate national needs. Science,
education and religion are ready to join in a mighty cooperation, in
an energetic struggle against these devitalizing influences which tend
to our undoing as a nation and a race.
The more pleasant and the ultimately more vital subject is race
building. The Demography Congress clearly brought out the fact
that we have 2 per cent of subnormal or abnormal children; or about
two million people who are feeble-minded, or with a genetic tendency
to insanity, immorality or criminality; and still others with a tendency
to consumption or other organic weaknesses. It was also shown that
some families of the nearly ninety millions of so-called normal people
average high in efficiency while others rank low in their inherited
ability to become useful citizens. The practicability for expert
eugenists to assist young people in avoiding matings, in which a given
weakness coining from both sides is certain to result in unf ortunate
children, was clearly stated by Drs. Davenport and Laughlin of the
Eugenics Record Office, and is based upon their practical efforts at
making scientific diagnosis on which people can base self-advice.
The Eugenics Record Office had about fifteen hundred square feet
of wall space occupied by a display of very neat reading-charts and
illustrations. This, together with the exhibit of sex hygiene, was
perhaps the most intently studied exhibit in the entire building. No
estimate has been made of the number of visitors to this eugenic
exhibit. It is sufficient to say that the floor was much of the time
crowded and that a large number of persons came with note-books
and freely took notes from the charts.
A popular and interesting feature was the series of half-hour lec-
tures on eugenics, in the special lecture room. These lectures or
talks, some illustrated with charts and slides, were along popular
lines, and were attended by intelligent audiences to the full capacity
of the room. Dr. Chas. B. Davenport, Dr. H. H. Goddard, Dr. E. E.
Southard, Dr. H. E. Jordan, Mr. Bleeker van Wagenen, Secretary,
W. M. Hays, Mr. V. M. Cady, Mr. H. H. Laughlin, all members of
the Association, had volunteered to fill the various lecture periods,
so that three daily lectures could be given during the entire week.
Mr. Cady of the Sex Hygiene Society, estimates the number of
308 American Breeders Magazine
attendants at the eugenics lectures at 3,000. The Association is
greatly indebted to the gentlemen who donated their time and
services.
BREEDING, GENETICS, EUGENICS
The dictionaries and common usage need to be brought closer
together in the use of the words breeding, genetics and eugenics.
As used in this Magazine and by the persons associated in the America
can Breeders Association, these words have each come to have a
definite meaning somewhat different from that assigned by the dic-
tionaries. By Breeding is meant: That part of the production of
plants and animals which relates to making varieties and breeds of a
special type or of superior value, and extending the use of these values
so that this blood may be used by other breeders. The word Genetics
is accepted to mean : That branch of the science of living things which
deals with their heredity and variation, and the breeding of plants,
animals, and men. Eugenics, as defined by Galton, and generally
accepted, means: "The science which deals with all influences that
improve the inborn qualities of the race." That there is a divergence
of definition and usage is shown by the fact that the 1910 edition of
one of our leading dictionaries defines Eugenics as "The science of
improving stock, whether human or animal, or of improving plants/'
The international society devoted to the science of breeding has
adopted the term Genetics as a part of its name — the International
Society of Genetics—and some of its members, who are also members
of the American Breeders Association, suggest that the name of this
Association be changed to the American Genetics Association. This
change has, in fact, been under consideration for some years among
the members of this Association. This change would naturally carry
with it the change of the name of this Magazine to American Genetics
Magazine, American Journal of Genetics, or an equivalent name.
When this Association was formed the name "Breeders" was the only
commonly known name available. That name has been of great
advantage in conveying to the public the practical purpose of the
organization. On the other hand, it has been somewhat misleading,
in that the public has always assigned it a restricted meaning, class-
ing this organization and its publications with associations and publi-
cations which almost exclusively relate to the practical art and business
of animal breeding.
Under the proposed change of name our association would enjoy
a designation which would distinguish it entirely from all other breed-
N
A
*
Editorials 309
ers associations, and our publications also would be distinguished
from periodicals devoted mainly to the interests of the practical
breeder. Some live-stock journals, which have felt that the American
Breeders Magazine might become a rival, would then recognize its
distinctive field under a name more clearly expressing the large pur-
pose it is trying to fill.
The word "Genetics" would carry the broader meaning and would
not be out of harmony with the present use of this term. The broader
relation of the word genetics to the science of heredity, and breeding,
and to the art of the improvement of the heredity of plants, animals,
and man would be recognized. The word " Breeding" would be given
its due prominence in the names of the Plant Section and the Animal
Section, and the word " Eugenics" would be used in its restrictive
sense in the name of the Eugenics Section. Workers, investigators
and students could then be recognized by the following terms: Genet-
ists: those interested in a broad way in the entire field of the science
of heredity and the art of breeding. Genetic Scientists: students and
investigators. of the theoretical aspects of heredity and breeding.
Eugenists: those interested in the improvement of the heredity of the
human species. Breeders: raisers and improvers of plants and ani-
mals. Plant Breeders: improvers and originators of varieties of
plants. Animal Breeders: raisers and improvers of breeds of domes-
ticated animals.
The word Thremmatology has also been somewhat in use, with a
meaning nearly the same as given above for genetics. It would not
be as convenient for general use as the latter word. For example,
the name American Thremmatological Association would not make
a convenient nor easily understood name. The word genetic, from
the root word, gen, genea suggests the thought, to be born, as the
word "eugenic" suggests the thought, to be well born.
The division of meanings outlined above for the words Genetics,
Breeding, and Eugenics, has the advantage of simplicity, and of
being easily understood by the laity, and of conforming closely with
uses already common in the leading countries.
NEWS AND NOTES
GENETICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Professor John Detlefsen formerly connected with the Laboratory
of Genetics, Bussey Institution, Harvard University, has been elected
to the assistant professorship of genetics in the College of Agriculture
of the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois. Professor Det-
lefsen will also fill the place of assistant chief in genetics in the Agri-
cultural Experiment Station.
THE GIDEON MEMORIAL TABLET
The readers of the American Breeders' Magazine will be interested
to know that the Native Sons of Minnesota have erected a tablet to
the memory of Peter M. Gideon, originator of the Wealthy apple.
The tablet, which was unveiled by his daughter, was placed near
where the original Wealthy tree stood, on the old Gideon homestead
at Excelsior, Minnesota. The exact location of the original tree seems
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News and Notes 311
to be in doubt; this would indicate that this act of recognition, in
common with many others, was planned somewhat too late.
Among those assembled to witness the dedicatory exercises were
many prominent in horticultural work as well as in the affairs of the
state. There were a number of speeches in testimony of the services
of Mr. Gideon to horticulture. A group of the older horticulturists
present, who knew Mr. Gideon, and who saw the first apples exhibited
from the original tree, seemed to link the present with the past.
Mr. Gideon really erected his own monument in 1864, when he
planted the seed from which the Wealthy apple tree came, and the
dedicatory exercises on June 15, 1912, only expressed in another
manner the appreciation which many who grow and use the Wealthy
apple have had, and still have for this man and his services to pos-
terity. — M. J. Dorset, St. Anthony Park, St Paul, Minnesota.
SELECTION IN PURE LINES
One of the most pressing problems of today for the science of biol-
ogy, as well as for the scientific plant-breeder, is to discover whether
genetic factors are constant or are variable. This can probably
be determined by experiment, if executed with the precision of the
physical laboratory. The practical question is, whether selection
can have any measurable effect when carried out in two opposite
directions within a homozygous strain. Leguminous plants that are
functionally cleistogamic (self-fertilized) seem to offer, in the dimen-
sions of their dry seeds, suitable material for the experiment. Several
sources of error, however, must be guarded against. Dry seeds
measured in the spring, and again a month later, will sometimes be
found to have shrunk perceptibly in the interim. The actual length
of the dry seeds is also, in some strains, certainly determined by the
amount of crowding in the pods.
The dimensions of a bean are maternal characteristics, and the only
advantage of measuring more than one seed to each plant is to obtain
an average which will be freer from the effects of "modifications."
Now it seems that we should first reduce the modifications to as low
a degree as possible. We can sometimes do this by taking our beans
only from ripe pods of the average length and number of seeds, and
by. omitting the proximal and distal beans in strains of plants where
these are often much smaller or larger respectively than the median
beans. We should, I think, select in each generation those plants
the average size of whose seeds is respectively highest or lowest.
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312 American Breeders Magazine
Any seeds from each of these selected plants can then be grown, and
the selection of plants continued for further generations. Each of
the variates used in our work will then always be the mean dimensions
of the typical beans of one individual plant.
If we mix at first all the beans of the plants of the homozygous
strain, and then select the largest beans for one line and the smallest
beans for another line, we shall, in some leguminous plants at least,
be testing the distal beans of a pod against the proximal beans, and
we may perhap find no effects from such selection, even after ten
years. The separate beans of a leguminous plant are certainly
not individuals with regard to their dimensions, but are only limbs
or members of the zygote on which they grow. The great modifica-
tions, in beans from different parts of the pod, and in pods with differ-
ent numbers of seeds, will, in some leguminous plants at least, quite
mask, for the purpose of selection, any small genetic differences which
might or might not arise from variations of the individual genes.
It has been considered as proved, with Phaseolus vulgaris ^th^t selec-
tion continued for several years produce no effect in different homozy-
gous lines. But in these experiments, the separate beans, and not the
individual plants, were selected.* Hence, I think that further search
for a possible result of selection in pure lines (much less quantitatively
than the immediate result of selection among the progeny of hetero-
zygotes) will be useful. — John Belling, Gainesville, Florida.
KOREAN CATTLE
I have seen occasional specimens of Manchurian or Mongolian
cattle that are good enough to catch the eye but the average specimen
is a decided "Canner." Manchurian and Mongolian cattle are long
horned, raw boned beasts that excite no admiration whatsoever.
The Korean cattle on the other hand are magnificent specimens,
resembling our Aberdeen Angus cattle very much. The Korean
cattle are kept by the Koreans mainly for work purposes, being used
in plowing the rice paddies, and in carrying freight to market on their
backs or in heavy two-wheeled carts. They are commonly polled,
black and sleek in color, with a tinge of Guernsey yellow or brown
along the back. Some types are brownish yellow all over. The bulls
attain large sizes, 1600 to 2000 pounds. The breed has less blockiness
of type, less spring of rib and less compactness than our Aberdeen
*W. Johannsen, Elemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre, pp. 113-157, Jena,
1909.
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News and Notes 313
Angus breed. Taken as a whole though the breed is a magnificent
one and doubtless under careful breeding management would fully
equal any of our selected, domesticated breeds. — E. C. Parker,
Johnson, Montana.
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
Eugenics. W. E. Neiberger, M.D., Bloomington, 111. Pp. 7. Reprint from
the Clinique, July, 1912, being a paper read before the Illinois Homeopathic
Medical Association, May, 1912.
Another Sex-Limited Character. Edward N. Wentworth, Ames, Iowa.
Reprinted from Science, June 28, 1912, page 936.
Some Data on the Inheritance of Horns in Sheep. T. R. Arkell. Bui. 160
of New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, Durham, N. H.
Pp. 35, 43 text-figures.
Evidence of Alternative Inheritance in the F2 Generations from
Crosses of Bos Indicus on Bos Taurus. Dr. Robert K. Nabours.
Reprint from American Naturalist, 1912, pp. 428-436, 9 text-figures.
Co5perative Cow Testing Associations in Minnesota. Bulletin 1. De-
partment of Agriculture, Albert Lea, State High School, Theo. Sexauer,
Director, Albert Lea, Minn. Pp. 55, illustrated.
Mendelian Inheritance in Cotton Hybrids. C. A. McLendon. Bulletin
99, Georgia Experiment Station, August, 1912. Pp. 141 to 228, 20 text-
figures, 8 diagrams.
National Reservations for the Protection of Wild Life. T. S. Palmer.
Circular 87, Bureau of Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture.
Pp. 32, 5 text-figures (maps).
The Kallikak Family. H. H. Goddard. Pp. 121, fig. 14, charts 14. The
Macmillan Company, New York, 1912, publishers. Price $1.50 net.
In this monograph, the eugenics movement is enriched by a sub-
stantial piece of literature. It is in line with the publications of
research work issued by the Eugenics Record Office, being a contri-
bution to more definite knowledge of a specific phase of human hered-
ity. Dr. Goddard, who is an active member of the American Breed-
ers Association is known to our members by his contributions and
lecture work on the subject of feeblemindedness.
The author could not possibly have chosen a stronger and more
convincing manner of presentation of the hereditary character of
feeblemindedness. Such a story as this must strike home and attract
public attention and arouse the public conscience. The book is an
outline of a vast breeding experiment, extending over six generations,
undertaken by the principals all unconsciously, but an experiment
nevertheless as the scientist, who always controls . and checks his
work, could not have planned much better.
314 American Breeders Magazine
There are charted and recorded a total of 1146 individuals con-
nected with this family. In one branch are recorded 41 matings, in
which the parents were feebleminded persons, the offspring of these
were 222 feebleminded and 2 normal. Another branch of the family-
has only normal individuals, and many of them of high physical and
mental attainments.
We predict that this book will give the study of eugenics a strong
impetus. The simplicity of the story, its appealing every-dayness
and the warm human interest that fills its every page, make the book
splendid reading for the layman and general reader. Dr. Goddard
writes cautiously, he makes no attempts to draw generalizations.
Suggestions in the way of "what is to be done" are made with the
Doctor's characteristic reserve and carefulness.
The book is a primer of eugenics — anyone who can read, can under-
stand it. It is a sermon— it drives home a lesson, the result of one
thoughtless act. It is a demonstration of the effectiveness of modern
methods of research as applied to human heredity. It is an unspoken
appeal to other philanthropists, than the one who made this piece
of research work possible, to support similar work in this new, mar-
velously productive and important field in the understanding of the
human soul and human society.
The reflective person will receive from this little sketch new light
on a large number of old problems. From it, the idea that many of
our economic problems are at bottom biological ones, gains strong
support. Dr. Goddard very correctly says:
Such facts as those revealed by the Kallikak family drive us almost irresistibly
to the conclusion that before we can settle our problems of criminality and
pauperism and all the rest of the social problems that are taxing our time and
money, the first and fundamental stop should be to decide upon the mental
capacity of the persons who make up these groups. . . . • . Thus it is,
that if all the slum districts of our cities were removed tomorrow and model
tenements built in their places, we would still have slums in a week's time,
because we have these mentally defective people who can never be taught to
live otherwise than as they have been living.
Is Mankind Advancing? Mrs. John Martin. Pp. 302, numerous diagram
tables. The Baker and Taylor Company, New York, 1910, publishers.
Mrs. Martin, who by the way is a life member of the Association,
essays an answer to this question in a highly interesting and instruc-
tive book, which shows evidences of resourcefulness and a vast amount
of library research work.
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News and Notes 315
The broad inference to be drawn from this book, is that the pres-
ent day race of the white man, as measured by morals, by religion,
by general intelligence, by genius, by art, stands behind that of the
ancient Greeks. That our civilization is below the level of the An-
cients, not merely in many, but in most respects.
Although not prepared to agree with the author throughout, we
are willing to admit that she presents an impartial analysis of our
civilization. She is optimistic with faith in the eventual evolution of
man. Note that the book is dedicated "to the super-man with the
hope that his coming may not be too long delayed."
The question is put to our consciences whether we are more moral
than the ancient Greeks; whether we can truly say that we are more
honest, or more temperate, or chaste or just, or tolerant or hardy, or
public spirited. Have we progressed in Democracy? do we hold life
more precious? These questions are difficult to answer concisely;
at best we can deal only in comparisons.
We are asked to judge man — homo — on his individual basis. We
are asked to divest our minds of the idea that the accumulation of
centuries in the way of knowledge, property, appliances, houses and
other physical evidences as railroads, steamships, wireless, aero-
planes, skyscrapers, and so forth, represent our very own civilization.
Man is not to be measured by the quantity of things he makes or
by his wealth, or by the vastness of his undertakings, but by his own
intrinsic worth.
Eugenics is recognized by Mrs. Martin as a possible factor of great
moment, but she appears to lay greater stress upon environment as
an evolutionary factor. The race must make a new start by providing
a suitable "breeding ground for the coming super-man." Thus
the exodus of woman from home activities in city and on farm into
the industries, factories and shops is deplored. A strong plea is
made for the farm as a breeding place for the race. "The state
must recognize the human right of every child to be brought upon a
farm," and Mrs. Martin advances numerous excellent euthenic
reasons for this opinion.
The book is written in strong and vigorous style, becoming at times
delicately and bitingly ironical. One feature especially, which com-
mends it to the reader is the entire absence of dreary compilations of
statistics, which at first thought one would expect in a book which,
from its nature, must depend largely upon comparisons to carry its
point. On the other hand, the glorification of the ancient Greeks in
superlatives, detracts from, rather than adds, strength to the argu-
ment. The classicists, who have filled all literature with their exu-
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316 American Breeders Magazine
berant appraisement of Greek culture, were largely governed by senti-
mental and poetical rather than by practical and scientific motives
and Mrs. Martin has erred in accepting their dicta too literally.
The diagrams showing graphically the levels of attainments in
various lines of human endeavor, during several centuries, should be
more fully explained. This manner of presentation is open to criti-
cism, as no explanation is given of the technique or method by which
the various values were assigned.
The reading of this book is commended to legislators, congressmen
and senators; teachers and educators and to eugenists in general.
REFERENCES IN CURRENT LITERATURE
The Single Testing System of Breeding for Eggs. D. F. Laurie, Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Adelaide, South Australia. Pp. 14, text-figures 3.
Mr. D. F. Laurie, who is the Government expert and lecturer in
South Australia, scarcely needs an introduction to the members of
the Association. The interesting publication here named contains
an outline of a system of breeding, and a method of housing that
were used by Mr. Laurie in developing several distinct South Austra-
lian laying strains of poultry. The trap-nest is discarded and the
single pen, 3 feet by 30 feet, with house 3 feet by 3 feet at end of pen,
adapted. This breeder believes thoroughly in line breeding, because
according to Mendel's law the proper course is to breed the various
generations inter se until segregation is definitely assured. "Never
breed from unsound or unfit and your work will proceed, but if one
parent be unsound no amount of fresh blood will give any definite
improvement."
A Fruit Breeding Farm in Minnesota.
An article in The Farmer, St. Paul, Minnesota, Number of October
5, 1912, describes the fruit breeding farm, which is owned by the
state of Minnesota and is located in that state. Dr. Chas. Haralson,
for many years associated in plant breeding work with Prof. Niels
Hansen of the South Dakota Agricultural College has been the super-
intendent of this interesting breeding farm ever since it began opera-
tions in 1907. The purpose of this institution is, of course, to origin-
ate new varieties of fruit, hardier and better than present varieties,
and also adapted for a greater variety of special uses. The methods
employed are those usually followed by plant breeders — selection and
cross breeding. While this kind of work is naturally a long time propo-
sition, the results obtained even in the short space of five years have
News and Notes 317
justified the wisdom of establishing this institution. At present,
6,000 cross-bred seedlings of apples, 6,000 of plums, 60,000 of straw-
berries, 13,000 of grapes, 10,000 of raspberries, and large numbers of
cherries, apricots and peaches promise to turn in results in the shape
of new commercial varieties. At any rate, this is a splendid founda-
tion for a beginning. Hardy and desirable varieties of fruit trees and
vines from all parts of the world are here brought together and by
crossing new combinations of blood lines are made to form new varie-
ties. Every state ought to have such an institution.
Problems in Eugenics. Containing the papers communicated to the First
International Eugenics Congress, held at the University of London, July
24 to 30, 1912. Pp. 490. Published by the Eugenics Education Society,
London, 1912. Price, 8/6 net.
This highly interesting publication is introduced by the presiden-
tial address before the congress, in which Mr. Leonard Darwin sounds
the "keynote" of the Eugenics movement. The papers read and
submitted at the congress are arranged under the sections of: I,
Biology and Eugenics; II, Practical Eugenics; Ha, Education and
Eugenics; III, Sociology and Eugenics; IV, Medicine and Eugenics.
The papers are printed in the language of the country in which they
were originally prepared by their respective authors; many of the
papers, however, have been translated into English. We note that
of the papers contributed, 16 were originally in English, 9 in French,
5 in Italian and 2 in German. An additional volume of papers
which were submitted too late to get into this volume, is promised.
The Inheritance op Skin Color. Dr. H. E. Jordan, University of Virginia.
Reprint from Science. August 2, 1912.
The writer expresses the opinion that skin color unquestionably
is a Mendelian character. Segregation in the Mendelian sense takes
place and there are records in mulatto offspring, cases of reversion,
as well as cases of undoubted segregation of the white skin color in
the third generation. This paper touches a large number of relevant
topics, as for instance, the close histological resemblance of brunette
and mulatto skins and the fact that protracted exposure to the sun
will "tan" even very fair skin, causing an increase in the number of
pigment granules in white skin. "Dark skinned races like the
Italians and Spanish and finally the brunettes of the Anglo-Saxon
race, may owe their pigmentation to negroid ancestry. The con-
necting link may well have been the negro slaves of Roman times, and
the conquering Teutons."
318 American Breeders Magazine
Studies in Human Heredity. Dr. H. E. Jordan. Bulletin of the Philo-
sophical Society of the University of Virginia. Pp. 293 to 317, illustrated
by numerous heredity charts. Price, 40 cents.
Investigations by the author, into the heredity of left-handedness
have incidentally brought to light other characters which seem to
show hereditary tendencies. Among those are tuberculosis, cancer,
hermaphroditism, onyxis, nephritis, melancholia and thumb-prints.
Dr. Jordan holds, that "if pathologic conditions are determined
even in part by hereditary constitutional bases, then methods
looking to permanent racial cure, i.e., complete eradication, must
reckon more intelligently and widely with the hereditary aspect of
disease. ,,
Ethnic Census in Minneapolis. Prof. Albert E. Jenks. American Journal
of Sociology, May 1912.
Professor Jenks discusses the " forces of ethnic cohesion and amal-
• 9
gamation" on the basis of an ethnic census recently made in Minne-
apolis and embracing 80,000 heads of families. This article is in
the nature of a preliminary report; the deductions given are drawn
from that part of the material which have been digested to date.
For the first time perhaps, we are enabled through the data fur-
nished by this census taken in a city with a large and diverse foreign
population to gain a fair idea not only of the rate of amalgamation
taking place in a large city, but of the diverse elements which enter
into it. These preliminary statements suggest that the blood mix-
ture coming under the observation of this census is complete, ethnic
(racial) lines being totally obliterated. To quote Prof. Jenks :
Of the slightly less than 80,000 heads of families whom we have under con-
sideration, not one pure-blood individual of the fourth generation American
birth has been found who has married with another pure-blood person of his
own people, no matter what the generation of this second individual may have
been. In other words the force of ethnic cohesion has broken down completely
after the third generation of American birth, and the amalgamation process
is then given full rein. This is true of the 80,000 heads of families coming
originally from 37 distinctive people whom our investigation has found in
Minneapolis, and, strange as it may seem, it is as true of the Jew as of the other.
The eff eels of crossing on fecundity of families are of decided inter-
est. Some combinations as pure Irish with pure Irish are more
fecund than Irish with Scandinavian; the latter tending to pull
down the degree of fecundity. We incline to the opinion that these
fecundity data will need to be handled with extreme caution as the
classification of individuals in the census is based, not on ethnic
but on geographic (nationality) distinctions.
»
,M
I
ASSOCIATION MATTERS
AN APPEAL
Members who are in arrears for their 1911 or for 1912 membership
dues are respectfully requested to settle, so that all funds coming from
this source may be available before the close of the year. The Associ-
ation has been to rather more than usual expense in the printing of
the combined annual reports VII and VIII. Increased cost of mate-
rial and printing, as well as an unusually large amount of compli-
cated typographical work, has made this volume more expensive
than any two preceding numbers. The Council of the Association
hopes that its efforts will be appreciated by the membership at large,
and that the outstanding annual dues for 1912 will be sent with
promptness. The total of this amounts to a considerable sum and it
will go far toward enabling us to meet our obligations.
The price of Volume VII- VIII has been fixed at $3 and members
are asked to assist in finding sale for single copies to libraries and
non-members.
ELECTION OF LIFE AND DELEGATE MEMBERS DURING THE PAST
QUARTER
Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny, Avery Island, Louisiana; Norges Lan-
deruksheiskole, Foringsforsoksstationen, Norway; Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, Maryland ; State Normal and Industrial College,
Greensboro, North Carolina; Canadian Medical Association, Mon-
treal, Canada; Hamilton Public Library, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada;
Mrs. Aaron M. Wilcox, Baltimore, Maryland.
REDUCED RATES TO THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN BREEDERS
ASSOCIATION
The secretary of the National Corn Exposition, Mr. George
Stephenson, announces that he has secured reduced fares in the terri-
tory of the South Eastern Passenger Association, for persons intending
to attend the Corn Exposition and the Annual Meeting of the Ameri-
can Breeders Association. The selling date of these tickets begins
January 20. It is possible that several of the other passenger associ-
ations will grant reduced rates also. In the event that they do not,
however, visitors from territory outside should purchase tickets to
some point within the territory of the South Eastern Passenger Associ-
ation, say Washington, D. C, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, St.
319
r -
320 American Breeders Magazine
Louis or New Orleans and from there take advantage of the excur-
sion fares which amount to just about one-half of the regular fare.
On the 24th and 25th the meetings of the American Breeders Associ-
ation will be confined to the regular sessions. On Monday the 27th,
the members will visit the exposition on its opening day. On Janu-
ary 26, the visiting members of the Association, together with all
men at the exposition in connection with the educational exhibits,
will be taken for a pleasure trip to Charleston, as the guests of the
Southern Railroad and the Charleston Chamber of Commerce. A
brief visit will be made to the Drainland Experiment Station; thence
to Summerville where the visitors will be shown the only tea farm in
the United States, and last, but most interesting of all, will be the
visit to the quaint old city of Charleston, where all will be entertained
by the Chamber of Commerce. Among the features planned for the
entertainment is a visit to the points of scenic and historical interest
about the city; a harbor trip taking in the Navy Yard, Fort Sumter
and Fort Moultrie, and a clam-bake on the Isle of Palms. The secre-
tary of Charleston Chamber of Commerce writes: "You may rest
assured that to the members of the American Breeders Association
the day at Drainland, Summerville and Charleston will be the time
of their lives." Charleston hospitality will be on tap. The Ameri-
can Breeders Association will have a booth in the exposition for its
headquarters, also an exhibit and will have use of a lecture room where
lectures and talks may be illustrated by lantern slides if desired.
The Association is especially appreciative of the work, along various
lines, of Mrs. Aaron M. Wilcox of Washington, D. C. Mrs. Wilcox,
who is a life member of the Association, has presented delegate mem-
berships to the Canadian Medical Association, to the Public Library
at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The last of these she gave in honor
of her son the late Horace W. Wilcox who resided at Hamilton,
Ontario. Mrs. Wilcox has also presented a delegate membership
to Johns Hopkins University, at Baltimore, Maryland.
Washington, D. C.
An Endowment Fund of $5U0,000 Is needed
THE WAVERLV PRESS
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